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N presenting this Souvenir Book commemorating our 
25th Anniversary as a Trade Union to our members 
and friends, we do so with great pride in our growth 
and accomplishments; growth, not so much in numbers 
as in solidarity; accomplishments and service, in the 
of endeavor which is the common lot of all labor 


varied fields 
organizations. 

The work and purpose of a Trade Union in which the human 
element plays such a prominent part is something more than a 
business expedient—something more than the attaining of higher 
wages—it is rather the improving of conditions and the regulation of 
craft practices and standards to secure the fullest opportunity for the 
social advancement of the individual and allow for the improve¬ 
ment and development of both mind and body. 

Ours has been a progressive and an aggressive organization; 
progressive, in promoting our interests and those of the entire craft ; 
aggressive, in protecting our rights no matter where or by whom 
assailed. 

By co-operation with other labor organizations, we have striven 
for the advancement of all workers and the stabilizing of industry 
along constructive and progressive principles. 

By asserting our rights in the economic adjustment of our own 
industry and by promoting and encouraging co-operation with 
employing photo-engravers, rather than the fostering of class strife 
and prejudice, we have advanced to our present high state of 
organization. It is along these lines that our efforts for democratizing 
of industry have been successful. 

It is in the hope of furthering these principles that this Souvenir 
is presented. We are deeply appreciative to all who have 
helped to make it possible and interesting, either by written 
contribution or other service, also those who have used it as 
an advertising medium; these latter we recommend 
for remembrance to our members and friends. 



/ 









































































Matthew Woll ' 

- INTERNATIONAL PHOTO-ENGRAVERS UNION OP N.A 
VICE PRES.- AMERICAN PE-DtRATION OP LABOR. 


539 


ROTOPK1NT GRAVURE CO., N. Y. 





















































t 


NEW YORK PHOTO-ENGRAVER S UNION N«1 

By ALBERT L. ARMITAGE,CORRESPONDING SECRETARY 


CERTAIN philosopher has 
said that “instinct guided by 
reason is never wrong.” Who 
is there among us today who 
will contend that the pioneers 
of the Photo-Engravers’ Union 
were not possessed of the quali¬ 
fications of such a philosophy? 

The writer of this contribution to the Twenty- 
Fifth Anniversary Souvenir of Photo-Engravers’ 
Union No. 1 desires to summarize briefly a few 
of the many incidents which confronted the mem¬ 
bership during the past quarter of a century of 
continuous organization and events of interest in 
the decade of years previous to 1894. 

According to the best information obtainable 
agitation for a union in the photo-engraving in¬ 
dustry, dates back to the period when men, who 
were employed directly at the swelled gelatine 
and wash out process, formed an organiza¬ 
tion composed exclusively of engravers. The 
title adopted was “Photo Engravers of America,” 
and the date of birth 1886. This movement had 
its inception among the employees of the Photo 
Engraving Company and gradually spread to 
the other shops then in operation in New York 
City, vis,—Moss Engraving Company, Photo 
Electrotype Company, American Photo Engrav¬ 
ing Company and the Franklyn Engraving Com¬ 
pany. 

The “Photo-Engravers of America” continued 
to function for two years, under administrations 
of Presidents, Walter Wickers, and Harry Kirby; 
meetings were held in Pythagoras Hall, located 
on Canal Street. During the life of the Photo- 
Engravers of America, another Union was 
formed by men who thought that an organiza¬ 
tion of photo-engravers could be established 
which would comprise men in all branches of 
the trade, and with this purpose in view, George 
L. Titus with the able assistance of Harry Brigge- 


man and Nick Scallon assumed the burden of 
organization. 

It is interesting to note that at this period the 
number of men engaged in the production of 
photo-engraving in New York City was not much 
in excess of one hundred. They were designated 
as engravers (divided in two classes known as 
finishers and cutters), photographers, proofers, 
routers, blockers, stereotypers, and helpers; the 
latter four branches were interwoven so as to be 
assistants to each other when the occasion de¬ 
manded. A number of women were employed 
as cutters in the various shops. 

G. L. Titus made strenuous efforts to accom¬ 
plish his ideal of what a trade union should be 
and was successful in procuring recognition from 
the governing labor body known as the Knights of 
Labor and a charter was issued to the “Acme 
Association of Photo-Engravers,” No. 6808— 
Knights of Labor, District Assembly No. 64 of 
the Printing Trades. Meetings were held in 
Reimers’ Hotel, No. 475 Pearl Street. The of¬ 
ficers chosen were George L. Titus, Master Work¬ 
man; Albert Fertig, Worthy Foreman; Edward 
Walsh, Recording Secretary; W. G. Tweedale, 
Financial Secretary, and Harry Briggeman, 
Treasurer. Delegates to the District Assembly 
were Messrs. Fagan, Menyhart, Kirby, Scallon, 
Tweedale, Fertig and Titus. 

The trade at this period was confronted with 
two organizations of photo-engravers, and it may 
be of interest to note that many engravers were 
members of both unions. A strike was inaugu¬ 
rated under these conditions by the Photo-En¬ 
gravers of America, in February, 1887;—de¬ 
mands were as follows: 10 per cent wage increase 
for male finishers and a 15 per cent increase for 
female cutters. 

Mr. Moss, head of the company bearing his 
name, informed a committee of engravers in his 
shop that he would not continue employment of 




Page Five 

























































men who were identified with a Union. Another 
interview was arranged and it was agreed among 
the men, that if upon the return of their spokes¬ 
man he should wiggle his finger in the direction 
of an engraver as he passed each stall (engravers 
worked in stalls and not at open tables as today) 
it was to be recognized as a signal to quit the 
shop, and strike. He wiggled his finger and a 
number of men left the shop while others remained 
at work. 

As an example of the very vague conceptions 
some of these men entertained relative to the ideals 
of unionism, mention is made of the fact that 
while they were on strike a few engravers accepted 
work at home delivered by errand boys; and 
when questioned regarding this most unusual at¬ 
titude, the excuse was offered that they were simply 
doing said work at home as a favor to some par¬ 
ticular person in authority in the shop which they 
had left on strike. 


Wages at this time 

averaged 

as 

follow 

photo-engraving shops: 




Finishers. 

. .$13.00 

to $20.00 

Cutters . 

. . 7.00 

to 

13.00 

Proofers. 

. . 10.00 

to 

20.00 

Photographers . . . 

. . 12.00 

to 

20.00 

Routers. 

. . 12.00 

to 

16.00 

Blockers . 

. . 12.00 

to 

16.00 

Stereotypers. 

.. 12.00 

to 

16.00 

Helpers. 

.. 9.00 

to 

12.00 


(Very few men receiving the higher wage.) 


An agreement was reached with Mr. Moss 
(written with lead pencil) and while the wage in¬ 
crease was not granted, the men in that shop were 
permitted to join the union without fear of dis¬ 
charge. During the strike referred to the Photo- 
Engravers of America passed out of existence, due 
to the fact that the shop wherein they were for 
the greater part employed (Photo Engraving Com¬ 
pany) was not paying as good wages as other 
shops. 

The Acme Association of Photo-Engravers 
made every effort toward inducing men employed 
at all branches of photo-engraving, other than 
finishers, to join their movement and only suc¬ 
ceeded to the extent of five proofers—Joe Botts, 
John May, J. Smith, John Lawler and Pete 
Slain, and one photographer whose identity is not 
obtainable. About the latter part of 1888 the 
Acme Association also fell by the wayside, due 
to indifference on the part of photo-engravers 
generally, nevertheless, many of the men associa¬ 
ted with those early endeavors to unionize the 
craft exhibited a splendid spirit and were destined 


to show their worth in 
to follow. 


the 


movements 


that 


were 


The following is interesting data relative to 
the Wood Engravers’ Union which was formed 
in the month of December, 1889 when wood en¬ 
gravers awoke to the realization that photo-engrav¬ 
ing was fast displacing their product in the printing 
industry, and they organized to safeguard and 
advance the interests of fellow craftsmen in that 
highly skilled and artistic profession. 

The title adopted was “American Assoicatiori 
of Wocd Engravers,” with headquarers at No. 
12 East 15th Street, New York City. None but 
wood engravers were eligible for membership 
The officers were: President, G. Kruell; Vice- 
President, W. H. Lawrence; Treasurer, F. S 
King; Fin. and Cor. Sec’y, F. E. Katsch; Rec. 
Sec’y, F. L. McCann; Executive Committee, K. 
C. Attwood, H. Baker and F. A. Pettit; there 
were 89 members enrolled, but it seems no attempt 
was made to affiliate with other organizations 
and the “American Association of Wood En¬ 
gravers” soon fell by the wayside. 

The next attempt to form a union of photo¬ 
engravers was initiated by William Mittchel, a 
printer employed by the New York World. Mr. 
Mittchel approached Dick Walsh, a router on 
the World and induced him to interest other men 
in the movement, which was to embrace all 
branches of the trade. Newspaper workers were 
the first to rally to the call, though a few commer¬ 
cial shop men were identified with this step to 
organize the photo-engraving craft. The meet¬ 
ing place of the instigators of this movement was 
known as Anarchy Hall, situated on North Will¬ 
iam Street, which derived its name from the fact 
that it was the headquarters of Herr Mdst and 
other equally famous anarchistic characters of that 
date. 

After considerable time, effort, and money, had 
been spent by individuals, an organization was 
formed and a charter granted by the International 
Typographic Union, October 6, 1891, to the 
Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1. The Charter 
Members were Reginald (Dick) Walsh, Frank 
Knowlton, Edward Petty, William Donovan, 
John Reynolds, Charles Eagan, Daniel McGinn 
and Paul Hensler; the three first mentioned and 
Dan McGinn being active members in our Union 
today. 

The name of this organization, date of charter 
granted by the I. T. U. and the facts surround¬ 
ing it bear incontrovertible evidence to the fact that 
it was the first Union to operate under title of 



















































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Prank Knowlton ~ Daniel M-Giiui" Cc^inaM(Dick)WalsK 

Edward Petty 


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“Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1, New York City, 
I. T. U.” 

Their first and only President was William 
Donovan (deceased); the membership totalled 
about 35, and though every effort was made to 
induce all photo-engravers in the city to become 
affiliated, the movement died because it seems the 
time was not ripe for such an organization. 

During the life of the 1891 Union an interesting 
episode took place as follows: An agreement was 
presented to the Nerv York Sun and signed, but 
when the management of that paper fully realized 
that it meant the recognition of a union of photo¬ 
engravers, they immediately informed the men of 
their intention to break the agreement. The officers 
of the local typographical union were acquainted 
with this condition and John McLoughlin, organi¬ 
zer of the I.T.U., notified the Sun on a Saturday 
afternoon that unless the Photo-Engravers’ Union 
was recognized, the men of the Typographical 
Union would stop work immediately and the Sun¬ 
day Sun for the next day would not be published. 
Needless to say the agreement with the photo¬ 
engravers was observed. 

After one year of struggle against tremendous 
odds these men, who were laying the cornerstone 
of the future Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1, due 
to the indifference in general of the other workers 
in the craft became discouraged and the organiza¬ 
tion passed out of existence. These pioneers, how¬ 
ever, did not cease agitating for their ideal, which 
eventually culminated in a movement, broader in 
its aspects than any heretofore. 

In the year 1893 a stirring of the passions for 
unionism was fathered through the medium of an 
agitation for a benevolent society among photo¬ 
engravers. This plan was adopted because of ex¬ 
perience born of the past and was used as a means 
of getting the men together on a basis of equality 
to which the more timid could not take exception. 
Timid because they were to a great extent fearful 
of the wrath of their employers, if it was generally 
known that a union was the real object of the 
society. 

James Ryan, familiarly known as “Pop,” Felix 
McCarthy, and Jas. Abrams, rendered yeomen 
service in inspiring the men to get together. Meet¬ 
ings were arranged to be held at No. 35 Frank¬ 
fort Street in the premises occupied by Abrams. 

This agitation for a union was given great im¬ 
petus by a report brought to the attention of photo¬ 
engravers by Daniel McGinn, who informed all 
the boys he came in contact with that photo-en¬ 
graving was being taught the inmates of Elmira 
Reformatory at Elmira, N. Y. The following is 


taken from an article contributed by William Elliot 
in the souvenir number of the 1904 convention of 
the I. P. E. U. 

“He got together all the engravers he 
could, and told his story and the indigna¬ 
tion aroused was so great that there and 
then the first successful union was formed.” 
Further, “Much good often comes of evil.” 
“And No. 1 should ever be remembered 
for the self-sacrifices and moneys expended 
which has amounted to thousands of 
dollars in their fight to protect the craft 
all over the country, and particularly 
from the evil inclined who would if taught 
the rudiments of the business ply the 
knowledge thus gained as counterfeiters, 
forgers, etc.” 

In writing the tale of the Photo-Engravers’ 
Union, it is indeed a pleasure on this occasion 
of “fond recollections” to hear testimony to the 
memory of one who should ever be remembered 
for wisdom, and patience, exhibited in gathering 
his fellow craftsmen together in an endeavor to 
advance the banner of unionism. 

The following biographical sketch is taken from 
the 1898 convention number of the I. T. U. 

“James Ryan, the sixth Vice-President 
of the I. T. U. was born in Lon¬ 
don, England, December 23, 1828, 

and in 1843, he was bound city 
apprentice to one, C. F. Hodgson, 
years later he emerged ‘James Ryan, 
journeyman printer,’ and a free man of the 
City of London. After working several 
years in Ireland, France, and Holland, 
in January of 1874 he arrived in Canada 
and came to the United States in March 
of the same year. His stay was of short 
duration for in July following, his wife 
having died, leaving two children, he re¬ 
turned to his home. The visit, however, 
had its effect, and September of 1879 
found him in New York City again, where 
he spent the next twelve months, with va¬ 
rious companions on the out-of-work list. 
Finally as hand pressman, he entered the 
photo-engraving business. 

“Although he had not visited the Klon¬ 
dike, in 1893, after many years of weary 
prospecting he ‘struck’ it. It happened in 
this wise: A photo-engraver, on his re¬ 
turn to New York from a vacation ‘up 
state’ reported that while in Elmira he 
had visited the reformatory there and had 
seen a well-equipped plant in operation, 













































and convicts being instructed in the various 
branches of photo-engraving. Mr. Ryan 
secured an affidavit to these facts and 
some samples of the business stationery of 
this important branch of the State’s busi¬ 
ness. With the aid of a few friends he 
got out a circular calling a meeting of the 
craft at Barkhousens on the Bowery, and 
sent it broadcast. This meeting not only 
resulted in a protest, which ultimately re¬ 
moved the competition of Reformatory 

labor, but, agreeably to Mr. Ryan’s 

hope, ‘panned out’ Photo-Engravers’ 

Union No. 1. 

“Since then Mr. Ryan has served the 
Union in nearly every capacity, and is as 
active a member now as any of the young¬ 
er men. With a fatherly pride he has 
watched it grow and prosper, taking a 

particular interest in the younger men as 
they manifested a tendency to come to the 
front. As all of the craft have this ten¬ 
dency, few of the members receive, any 
other name from him than ‘sonny,’ and 
he is known to every one as ‘pop.’ Still 
ruddy, six feet and to spare, and straight 
as an arrow, his is a figure and personality 
which will be sorely missed some day. 
May that day be long deferred Mr. 
Ryan will represent New York Photo- 
Engravers at Syracuse.” 

James (Pop) Ryan was the first member to be 
pensioned by Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1 and 
credit is extended to John Taggart in this con¬ 
nection; he brought the matter to the attention of 
his co-delegates en route home from the Mil¬ 


waukee Convention; later the Union unanimously 
voted Mr. Ryan (who lived to the ripe old age 
of 87, he having died July 18, 1915), a pension 
of $5.00 per week which was soon increased to 
$10.00 weekly and a life membership card in 
recognition of services rendered. It might also be 
noted here that Mr. Chas. Barkman, another old 
member, was also pensioned for a number of years, 
and until his death. 

The Union which was the outgrowth of meet¬ 
ings held at Barkhousens, No. 243, on that famous 
old thoroughfare known as the Bowery, was given 
the euphonious title of American Society of 
Photo-Engravers. Meetings were held at regu¬ 
lar intervals, but it was a difficult task indeed for 
the organizers to convince some men, especially 
engravers, that a union would be of benefit to 
them. Most of these men were recruited from 
the ranks of “wood engravers,” a highly skilled 
profession. 

Many of these were among the best engravers 
of the day, still they were made to realize that 
the one great reason why photo-engraving had de¬ 
veloped so rapidly to their detriment was because 
they (wood engravers) had not attempted to pro¬ 
tect and safeguard the interests of their craft 
through the medium of an organization, until many 
years after the introduction of photo-engraving. 

The American Society of Photo-Engravers 
readily realized the impracticability of an organ¬ 
ized industry, progressing independently of other 
organizations and the members demanded affilia¬ 
tion with other labor unions, and voted to ask the 
Central Labor Union to organize them. The Cen¬ 
tral Labor Union sent a committee, and an organi¬ 
zation on broader lines was effected known as the 



T- ES& 

265 




Page Nine 




























































ir%iiMwrTMrwni 


Photo-Engravers’ Union of New York City. 
Theodore Attworth was the president, and because 
of his insistence for affiliation with the American 
Federation of Labor, recognition was finally 
granted by the International Typographical Union 
under title of Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1, 
New York City. The International Typographi¬ 
cal Union charter was presented by James J. 
Murphy, President of “Big 6” November 12, 
1894, and the present organization has been in 
continuous existence since that time. 

The charter members were Austin Huffman, 
Thomas Popjay, Edwin Gaffney, Theodore Att¬ 
worth, R. D. Roberts, D. M. Roberts, Charles 
Kane, Daniel McGinn, Felix McCarthy, Robert 
Stuart, Thos. E. Kelly, Donald Frazer, Wm. L. 
Webbe, James Ryan, Charles Taylor, Thomas 
Taylor, Thomas Palmer, Oscar Knauer, John E. 
Duell, William O. Rendell, Thomas J. Roche, 
Edward J. Mooney, Edward J. Petty, Eugene 
Menyhart, J. M. Washington, and Edward D. 
Williams. 

The International Typographical Union charter 
brought many new members but there were several 
who for various reasons remained outside the 
Union ranks. Some of the most highly paid work¬ 
men were difficult to bring within the circle of 
membership. They feared it might jeopardize 
their positions, that any change the Union might 
bring about to profit the average member must be 
at their expense. These few high-priced men were 
not in themselves so necessary to the young Union, 
but the many whom their influence kept from the 
organization were essential. Gradually their in¬ 
fluence was destroyed and these self-styled “big 
men” became members of the organization. 

“Pop” Ryan led the field work until George 
W. Dunn assumed his duties as organizer and 
Business Agent. The latter term was used be¬ 
cause public sentiment was very much opposed to 
the title of “Walking Delegate.” Mr. Dunn was 
immediately recognized as a forceful man, pos¬ 
sessed of those qualifications so necessary for this 
particular task. His indomitable spirit immedi¬ 
ately won the good will of the membership, and 
respect of employers who recognized in him a man 
worthy of their consideration. 

The first Union ball was held in Clarendon 
Hall, E. 13th Street in the year 1895. Frank Ryan 
was chairman of the ball committee and Tom 
Palmer carried the First Photo-Engravers’ Union 
banner in the grand march on that occasion. 

Donald Fraser was elected president for the 
year 1896 and carried on successfully the cam¬ 
paign of organization. 


J president in 


Theo. Attworth was again elected president in 
1897, but resigned before his term of office ex¬ 
pired and Thomas Kelly, 1st Vice-President, 
assumed the duties of office until the end of that 
year. 

The first agreement entered into under the I. 
T. U. charter of 1894 called for a scale of $18.00 
and a 54-hour week. The first strike was in the 
Manhattan Engraving Company during the term 
of Patrick Fagan as president in 1898, and netted 
the members much in experience, showing the 
calibre of our men in their unflagging devotion to 
the cause. 

In the year 1897 largely through the efforts of 
James Cain a pernicious legislative measure intro¬ 
duced at Albany, known as the Ellworth Anti- 
Cartoon Bill, was defeated. If this bill had been 
written into the statutes, production of Photo- 
Engraving would have been considerably curtailed, 
and many touchy politicians, some inclined to ras¬ 
cality, would have achieved their object, and the 
public denied one of its greatest assets in the daily 
and other publications. 

Patrick Fagan was re-elected in 1899. During 
the early part of that year an attempt was made 
to form a union of all plate makers, embracing 
the photo-engravers, electrotypers and stereo¬ 
typers. Conferences on this matter were held in 
a hall at 475 Pearl Street. The meetings were 
fairly successful until it was proposed by the elec¬ 
trotypers that routers should be designated as their 
helpers. The three routers on the committee of 
photo-engravers, Messrs. Lew Havens, Otto 
Metz, and Charles Walls immediately and strenu¬ 
ously objected to such classification and withdrew 
from the conference. Needless to say, the matter 
of a plate-makers union was dropped and the 
routers’ branch assured of full recognition among 
the photo-engravers. 

While it would be unfair to those pioneers of 
the Union in an attempt, to in any degree lessen 
the credit to which they are justly entitled for their 
labors in conferring upon the latter day member 
such a magnificent heritage as Photo-Engravers’ 
Union No. 1, it is generally agreed that the most 
crucial period in the history of our Union was dur¬ 
ing the latter part of the year 1899—and the 
months following in which the membership was 
engaged in a bitter struggle to maintain the ideals 
and conceptions of the trade union movement. 

Members were for the most part receiving as 
remuneration for services rendered the sum of 
$18.00 weekly and had decided to present a new 
scale which called for $21.00 and 54 hours. The 
scale committee having finished their labors, a 


Page 















































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ppeal had received favorable consideration and 



meeting was called on the third Sunday in Oc¬ 
tober, 1899, in Mrs. Wilzegs Hall, No. 85 East 
4th Street (the membership being summoned to a 
meeting for the first time under penalty of a $5.00 
fine for non-attendance), to take strike action on 
all commercial shops which would not agree to the 
scale presented. The net result of this meeting 
was as follows—on the first Saturday in Novem¬ 
ber, 1899—all commercial shop men struck with 
the exception of a few of the smaller houses which 
had signed the union agreement. 

About two-thirds of the membership—approxi¬ 
mately 290 men were affected. Strike benefits of 
$9.00 per week were paid to all married jour¬ 
neymen, $7.00 to single members and $5.00 to 
apprentices. 

The matter of financing this strike was indeed 
a problem for the officers and a heavy burden to 
the men employed in newspaper shops and the few 
commercial men who were still at work. The first 
weekly assessments were $5.00 per man, it then 
gradually receded until an amount totaling $45.50 
had been paid by each member working. The 
strike lasted five months and during that period it 
was a common occurrence for members employed, 
after paying strike assessments and dues (and very 
often extending further financial assistance) to 
have left in their pay envelopes the small sum of 
$12.00 or $13.00. Such sacrifice and devotion 
to the cause has rarely been surpassed in the an¬ 
nals of American trade unionism. This action 
clearly demonstrated in unmistakable signs that 
the future success and welfare of the Photo-En¬ 
gravers’ Union No. 1 was to be built on a solid 
rock foundation. A compromise was finally af¬ 
fected with the employers in the matter of wages 
and $20.00 was accepted as the minimum. 

Number One did not receive any financial sup¬ 
port from the I. T. U. during this strike and hardly 
a full measure of moral support. The reasons 
given being that the I. T. U. was involved in in¬ 
dustrial disputes in various parts of the country, 
directly affecting the compositors and the I. T. U. 
finances were said to be insufficient to withstand 
the burden of financing the photo-engravers’ strike. 
Nevertheless Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1 was 
paying per capita to the I. T. U. and felt their 
cause was just and should be supported in a 
measure to insure its success. 

In January, 1900, J. Cain was authorized to 
attend a meeting of the I. T. U. council in session 
in Pittsburgh, Pa., for the purpose of presenting 
and pressing the claims of No. 1 in the matter of 
financing support of its strike. S. B. Donnelly 
of the I. T. U. council informed Mr. Cain his 


that the sum of $5,000.00 had been voted No. 1. 
When this news was flashed to New York City 
the joy of photo-engravers was unbounded, though 
destined to be of slight duration, as a short time 
later we were informed by the secretary of the 
I. T. U. that their finances were so low it would 
be impossible for the council to grant No. 1 the 
financial support promised. 

Dissatisfied with this treatment and attitude of 
the parent body during the strike, No. 1 withdrew 
from I. T. U. affiliation, and immediately after 
the termination of the difficulty, formed an inde¬ 
pendent union of photo-engravers, with the idea 
of organizing throughout the country. 

Following this withdrawal from the parent 
body, the I. T. U. organized the Photo-Engrav¬ 
ers’ Union No. 23, a dual body, and used all the 
available resources at its command to entice, ca¬ 
jole and even force the members of No. 1 into 
the No. 23 Union. The total of men working at 
photo-engraving in New York City rapidly in¬ 
creased under these conditions, the trade being 
continually in a turbulent state. The newspaper 
shops to a great extent employing No. 23 men and 
No. 1 contesting every inch of ground. Finally, 
the No. 1 men employed by the NeYork World 
refused to work with No. 23 men and struck 
March 4, 1902. No. 23 Union then transferred 
some of its members from the Netv York Journal 
shop to fill the vacancies left by No. 1 men on the 
World. True to their convictions the No. 1 men 
employed on the Journal struck. The reader will 
no doubt readily appreciate in what a chaotic con¬ 
dition the photo-engravers’ trade and Union was, 
during a period of factional strife such as this 

Benefits of $15.00 per week were paid to mem¬ 
bers on strike—the assessments totaling $37.50 per 
capita. 

With credit to all parties concerned in this very 
unpleasant experience it can truthfully be said 
that the standard scale of wages and hours was 
never violated at any time by either of the con¬ 
tending factions. As time wore on it became more 
evident to the leaders and members of both Unions 
that something must be accomplished to end the 
existing state of affairs and solidify the photo¬ 
engravers in one organization throughout the 
country. 

Edward J. Shelly was president of No. 1 dur¬ 
ing this period, and until 1903, he having served 
three terms. 

Upon assuming the office of President in 1903 
Arsham Andonian initiated a plan acceptable to 
No. 23. A committee of nine from each Union 





































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met at various times for a period of eight or nine 
months; more than thirty meetings were held 
in quarters gratuitously extended by Mr. Stein of 
No. 194 William Street, in an effort to determine 
a settlement of questions involved, and all expenses 
incurred during the progress of these conferences 
was borne by the individual members of both com¬ 
mittees. 

Progressing along the lines adopted James Cain 
of No. 1 met Martin Higgins, of the Pressmen’s 
Union in Boston, and interested him in the New 
York situation. Higgins promised Cain he would 
use his best efforts in an endeavor to induce James 
Lynch, President of the I. T. U. to agree to con¬ 
sulting with the photo-engravers of both factions 
with a view of bringing about a settlement of their 
differences. 

A conference was arranged between the Inter¬ 
national Council of the I. T. U. and representa¬ 
tives of the contending factions of photo-engravers, 
Messrs. James Cain, of New York City, and 
Louis Flader, of St. Louis, representing the inde¬ 
pendent Photo-Engravers, and Charles Walls, of 
New York City, and William H. Lee, of Cin¬ 
cinnati, representing the I. T. U. Photo-Engravers. 

The conference was held in Indianapolis, Ind. 
and a recommendation was made and agreed to 
by the Washington convention of the I. T. U. in 
1903, which in principle was as follows: All 
photo-engravers affiliated with the I. T. U. were 
permitted to withdraw from their parent body and 
the I. T. U. further agreed to recognize the I. P. 
E U. as an independent international organi¬ 
zation. 

This action on the part of the I. T. U. left 
the road open in New York City for an amal¬ 
gamation of all photo-engravers; consequently at 



a meeting of the joint unions held in Webster Hall, 
the one organization of today was effected. Otto 
A. Metz was chosen president and he immediately 
appointed Charles Walls and F. A. Petit as assis¬ 
tants to the President and Business Agent to lend 
aid in the enrollment of No 23 members who 
were for the most part unknown to the officers of 
old No. 1. Metz also appointed an Executive 
Board of twenty members, ten from each Union, 
and so well did the work progress that within a 
few months application was made to the I. P. 
E. U. for a charter which was granted April 23rd, 
1904, under title of Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 
1, I. P. E. U. of N. A. It was during the ad¬ 
ministration of Metz that hours of work were 
reduced from 53 to 49 hours and the Saturday 
half holiday recognized. Following the Webster 
Hall meeting an affair was held in the Murray 
Hill Lyceum for the expressed purpose of bringing 
membership of both No. 1 and No. 23 together in 
a spirit of fraternalism and good fellowship. 

A short time after the amalgamation our men 
were locked out by the Butterick Publishing Com¬ 
pany. A ladies’ auxiliary was formed to assist 
the Union in this affair. The Union made con¬ 
tinued efforts to organize the Butterick shop and 
this object was only recently accomplished. 

Going back in this story the writer must make 
mention of the fact that No. 1 is given full credit 
for organizing the I. P. E. U., in the article pre¬ 
viously referred to (Convention Number, 1904), 
those mentioned as the prime movers of that orga¬ 
nization were James Cain, Otto Metz, Blair Gil¬ 
bert, Louis Flader and William L. Elliot, who 
held their first meeting at 757 Wells Street, Chi¬ 
cago, Illinois. The first president of the I. P. E. 
U. was John R. Bevins, of Philadelphia, Pa. 



Page Thirleen 








































If some of the politicians who were on the “in¬ 
side” of the scheme to continue making photo-en¬ 
gravings at Elmira, had laid bare the facts, a 
beautiful State-wide scandal no doubt would have 
resulted; as it was, Gov. Theodore Roosevelt, in 
1899 heard and understood enough in conference 
with a committee from the Union, to make it worth 
his while to put a stop to the tactics of pernicious 
Mr. Brockway (who was at that time controlling 
head of the Elmira institution) and his photo-en¬ 
graving plant. 

The great fight to abolish teaching of photo¬ 
engraving in penal institutions was then carried 
forward in relentless fashion. Big business was 
awakened to the dangers of this practice. Af¬ 
fidavits from bankers, handwriting experts, etc., 
were procured in condemnation of the further con¬ 
tinuance of instruction of inmates of criminal in¬ 
stitutions in the art of reproductive processes. A 
bill was introduced at Albany by Assemblyman 
Thomas G. Fitzgerald (now Legislative agent of 
the New York State Federation of Labor) passed 
both houses and signed by the Governor, which 
entirely eliminated from penal institutions of New 
York State the instruction of photo-engraving to 
the criminally inclined. 

Lew Havens, George W. Dunn and James 
Cain are given credit for the accomplishment of 
this successful legislation, which has resulted in 
other States taking similar action to the end that 
today photo-engraving is not a part of the train¬ 
ing of criminals in any part of the U. S. A. 

A great achievement of No. 1, which the mem¬ 
bership may be justly proud of, is as follows— 
missionaries of undoubted organizing ability were 
sent broadcast in an endeavor to interest fellow 
craftsmen generally in the movement which had 
for its immediate and single object the creation of 
local unions of photo-engravers. Through the 
efforts of these disciples of No. 1, several local 
unions were formed in various sections of the 
country; and to bring about this desired result No. 
1 gave freely and unstintedly of its finances, when 
such necessary and practical aid was most needed 
to instill and maintain the proper morale and en¬ 
thusiasm for unionism. 

James Ryan, George W. Dunn and James 
Cain, the organizers, reported it was not surpris¬ 
ing to find men working for a $10 and $12 
weekly wage in cities recited. Following are the 
locals organized in this campaign—Providence, 
Hartford, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Detroit, 
Dallas, New Orleans, Nashville, Louisville, In¬ 
dianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Cleve¬ 
land, Washington and Pittsburg. 


During the year 1905 the Union succeeded in 
bringing before the Contract Labor Board the 
matter of importation of contract photo-engravers 
by the American Bank Note Company, with the 
result that several foreigners were held on Ellis 
Island for a lengthy period while the Government 
authorities carried forward an investigation of 
their employment. The officials of the Port of 
New York recommended deportation, but on ap¬ 
peal to the higher officials of the President’s cabi¬ 
net in Washington, D. C., these contract work¬ 
men were admitted to the U. S. A. They after¬ 
ward became good members of Photo-Engravers’ 
Union No. 1. 

One of the shops with whom we failed to reach 
an agreement at the conclusion of the strike of 
1899 and 1900 was the Gill Engraving Company. 
Several men being more loyal to their employer 
than to the Union, and around them the Gill Com¬ 
pany built an organization which withstood as¬ 
saults by the Union for years, and only because 
the Union had successfully combatted the situa¬ 
tion in its various stages for fourteen years, in¬ 
cluding litigation and court action of every de¬ 
scription in almost every degree of Federal and 
State courts, this shop was finally enrolled in the 
list of shops operating under agreement with the 
Union on July 9, 1914. 

The Gill Engraving Company and the Double¬ 
day, Page Company endeavored in an action 
brought on petition, by the Department of Jus¬ 
tice, Washington, D. C., to restrain the Allied 
Printing Trades Council from continuing their ac¬ 
tivities against these concerns on the grounds that 
the Unions involved were guilty of prosecuting a 
secondary boycott. 

The said companies in this action were playing 
billiards—vis., shooting at the A. P. T. C. in an 
effort to pocket the Photo-Engravers. 

Hie proceedings were conducted by U. S. At¬ 
torney H. Snowden Marshall before a Federal 
Grand Jury, and an exhaustive examination of our 
books and methods was resorted to in the search 
of incriminating evidence, finally in an opinion 
rendered by G. Carrol Todd, Assistant to Attorney 
General Reynolds on the evidence submitted the 
action was dismissed, and the Union’s right to 
certain matters held inviolate. 

In a circular letter to the membership President 
Brady then arvised the members they were with¬ 
in their rights in refusing to render service to pub¬ 
lications which were unfair to our members and 
who supported the Gill Company in blacklisting 
them from employment. 

On April 8, 1914, the Gill Company instituted 







































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Arsham Andonian 

1903 £ 06 


Otto M.etz 
1904-05 


Peter J. Brady 
Dll-12 - 13 -14-15 


James H.Gibson 
1910 


Edward j. v 
19/6- 17- 18-/9 


1894 Presidents 

of tKe N.Y. PKoio Engravers 


1919 

Union No.l I.P.E.U. 

















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suit for $50,000 damages in a court of equity, the 
Federal Court for the Southern District of New 
York. Immediate injunction was asked for and 
denied by Judge Hough who in rendering his opin¬ 
ion May 4, 1914, said that the object of the Union 
was for getting more, better, and easier paid work 
for fts membership, which was laudable. 

Court actions brought against the Allied Trades 
entailed considerable expense, and though the 
other unions in the printing industry were involved, 
the burden of paying counsel fees and other ex¬ 
penses was shifted upon the shoulders of the 
Photo-Engravers, who paid the bill. 

The Gill Company and No. 1 proceeded to 
make peace, an agreement was signed July 9, 
1914, by the said company, the I. P. E U. of¬ 
ficers and the local representatives. 

Today, after the long years of differences ex¬ 
isting between the Gill Company and the Union, 
caused in a measure by stubbornness on the part 
of each of the contending parties, a most harmon¬ 
ious condition exists, our contractual relations are 
very friendly and mutually beneficial. The old 
sores have healed clean. 

The happy and healthy condition which was 
the outgrowth of the amalgamation of No. 1 and 
No. 23 did not last for many years, due to another 
form oFfractional strife which broke out within our 
ranks, and which threatened for a time to be even 
more disastrous in its consequences than any pre¬ 
vious trouble. It seemed for a time that what had 
given promise of being, and is today, a militant, 
aggressive, and progressive organization would be 
completely disrupted. 

The member who was not identified with No. 

1 at this period can hardly appreciate the diffi¬ 
culties experienced in the effort to maintain our 
organization intact. Ties of friendship that had 
stood the test of years were broken asunder, the 
lay member hardly knew whom to turn to in his 
despair. Accusations were hurled across the floor 
in meetings of committee and Union. Our finan¬ 
ces were said to be in a deplorable condition. 
Union records such as remain of this period of 
factional strife bear mute evidence to the fierce¬ 
ness and bitterness of the battle that was being 
waged with its resultant stultification on the pro¬ 
gress of the Union. 

Despite the factional strife which existed the 
Union succeeded in rendering working hours from 
49 to 48 during Harry Gibson’s term as president, 
in 1910. 

Meetings under these conditions which lasted a 
number of years were extremely turbulent; admin¬ 


istrations in part were rapidly changed from one 
faction to another, until the unseen hand that 
guides the destinies of man in all things, finally 
installed an engineer in the cab, his hand on the 
throttle, with undaunted courage and spirit as his 
stoker, he drove the train of the Photo-Engravers’ 
Union over the shaky ties of time on the roadbed 
of a unified membership, to harmony and success. 
This man was Peter J. Brady, an organizer of the 
rarest quality, to whose foresight is due much of 
the present standing of our organization. After 
serving the Union in many capacities he was elect¬ 
ed President in 1911 and served five terms. 

Donald Frazer was elected Business Agent in 
the same year in which capacity he served during 
1911-12, being followed by the present incumbent, 
Wm. Doerr. 

In 1905 No. 1 engaged in a bowling contest 
with the Philadelphia local. The first series of 
games was rolled in this city, a week later the 
return series was rolled in Philadelphia. The 
bowlers of No. 1 were successful in winning every 
series rolled—single, 2 men, 3 men and 5 men, 
in each city. 

In 1908 the convention of the I. P. E. U. of 
N. A. was held in New York City, the meeting 
convened in the Ricconda Hotel, Brighton Beach, 
Coney Island. The arrangements for this conven¬ 
tion under the chairmanship of James H. Gibson 
were carried out in a manner characteristic of 
New York and we were in turn honored by the 
delegates in their selection of a member of No. 1 — 
Peter J. Brady—to a place on the Council of the 
I. P. E. U. Brady held office on the Council as 
3rd, 2nd and 1st Vice-President for ten years, 
until the convention of 1918. 

Otto Bartels was selected Financial Secretary 
of the Union in 1907, a position which he has 
held since that time; his service has covered ap¬ 
proximately one half the life of our organization 
since the date of charter, November, 1894. 

Cost-finding systems were first discussed in open 
meetings in March, 1912. The matter was re¬ 
ferred to the Executive Board for investigation, 
and later a recommendation was made that the 
Union membership be summoned to a special 
meeting September 22, 1912, in lieu of a $5 00 
fine, to consider ways and means of combatting 
cost systems, which were being installed through¬ 
out the city in such a manner as to arouse the 
resentment of the members. The purpose of these 
systems was looked upon with suspicion by our 
members, who felt that “speeding up’’ and the 
playing of one member against the other by means 
of marks of identification was the object sought, 





Page Sixteen 



































































and if allowed to continue would result in an in¬ 
ferior quality of work and workmen. The Execu¬ 
tive Board in December, 1912, advised the fol¬ 
lowing action; that inasmuch as the New York 
Photo-Engravers’ League had declined to further 
meet with a union committee in conference rela¬ 
tive to this matter, all members were advised after 
date of January 1, 1913, not to affix their clock 
numbers, name or any mark of identification to 
time slips which would reveal the worker’s identity. 

The Union was never opposed to a real sincere 
effort to determine the cost of production and was 
on record and ready at all times to assist em¬ 
ployers in this connection, but the Union officers 
could not, and would not, consent to a system in¬ 
stalled which undoubtedly would have proven 
detrimental to the individual member, and in time 
to the industry. 

By action of the convention of 1918, the Inter¬ 
national Union early in 1919, engaged the ser¬ 
vices of Perley Morse & Company, certified ac¬ 
countants of New York City to conduct a survey 
into the photo-engraving industry for the purpose 
of devising a cost-finding system which would 
bring about the desired result, and meet with the 
approval of the members. The New York Union 
through President Volz took an active part in as¬ 
sisting in this investigation. This cost-finding sys¬ 
tem which met with the approval of the St Louis 
convention is being considered by the employers 
at this time. 

At different periods we have been confronted 
with movements such as the Color League, to 
which all members employed in the production 
of color work were invited to affiliate. To further 
their movement the color workers held two ban¬ 
quets, the first was held in the Continental Hotel, 
New York City, 1911, and in 1912 the affair was 
celebrated at “Raubs” in Brooklyn. 

Meetings were held regularly and received with 
suspicion by the great majority of the rest of the 
members, who felt that all engaged in the pro¬ 
duction of photo-engraving should be on an equal 
basis and accorded every opportunity in their dif¬ 
ferent branches as progress was made, and that no 
particular part of the trade should be under the 
supervision of a group of members. The will 
of the majority prevailed and in 1916, all 
branches of the trade were placed on an equal 
basis and for the first time. Sid Smith and Don 
Frazer were instrumental in forestalling a pre¬ 
vious attempt to organize the color workers in a 
distinct and separate movement. 

In 1913 several meetings of the proofers were 
held to consider the advisability of admitting to 


membership in the Photo-Engravers’ Union, power 
pressmen employed in photo-engravers’ estab¬ 
lishments as color proofers The hand pressmen 
rejected the proposition and this matter hung fire 
for several years; it was finally disposed of in 
October, 1919, when forty-four power press¬ 
men who had been employed in photo-en¬ 
graving shops the requisite length of time were 
admitted to membership This was undoubtedly 
a move in the right direction as these men, though 
members of another organization were directly em¬ 
ployed at a “branch of photo-engraving,’’ over 
which the I. P. E U. had jurisdiction, recog¬ 
nized by the I. P. P. and A. U., and the A. F. 
of L That avenue of access is now safely guarded 
against further encroachment, and the power press¬ 
men admitted to our Union are accorded all 
privileges and benefits of the organization. 

The famous “Booster Outings” in which the 
New Yorkers joined in the years from 1910 to 
1915 inclusive also deserve attention as they were 
the means of bringing the membership together in 
social intercourse and were especially beneficial to 
the New York Union and did much to allay 
factional unrest in that Local 

The following Locals were visited by the 
“Boosters”: Buffalo, including Niagara Falls, 
Detroit, including again the Falls, Boston, Phila¬ 
delphia including Atlantic City, Providence and 
Rochester including the Thousand Islands. The 
members returned from all these trips deeply ap¬ 
preciative of the reception they had received and 
preparations made by the sister Locals visited to 
entertain them. The Philadelphia members 
joined New York in all these trips. 

E. J. Volz was manager of the New York 
end of all these “Booster” outings and proved him¬ 
self a past master in conducting them. An idea 
of the arrangements for these affairs may be had 
when it is recalled that the Detroit trip which cov¬ 
ered five days and included a visit to Niagara 
Falls, was made for $31.50, which included all 
expenses; railroad and steamship fare, state 
rooms, hotel accommodations, all meals and re¬ 
freshments and all side trips. 

It was during this trip to Detroit that Booster 
Volz was presented by the Boys with a beauti¬ 
fully inscribed gold watch in appreciation of his 
efforts. 

An “Old Timers” Beef Steak Dinner was held 
at Kalils, No. 41 Park Place, April 26, 1913. 
This affair brought together so many of the “old 
boys” that an attempt to record them in this arti¬ 
cle would probably disclose the membership en¬ 
rolled in 1894. P. J. Brady was master of cere- 



Page Eighteen 










































\ 


























monies, and introduced as speakers Matthew Woll 
and Louis Schwarz of the I. P. E. U., and sev¬ 
eral men prominent in the city civic life. George 
Doran was chairman of the committee of arrange¬ 
ments; entertainment was provided by the “White 
Rats” Actors’ Union, and several pseudo Carusos 
from the shops. 

In 1915 the Local Union realizing that the 
rotary photo-gravure and photo offset process 
as perfected was capable of great development, 
and would make great inroads into the photo¬ 
engraving field to the detriment of the members, 
unless more of them became interested in these 
new processes of reproduction, set in motion a plan 
whereby the future of the photo-engravers would 
be safeguarded in these new photo-mechanical 
processes. Edward J Volz, at that time Vice- 
President, and Amos H. Spaulding, one of our 
best technical workers were selected as a commit¬ 
tee to make the necessary survey to determine the 
extent of the inroads made and the possibilities of 
these processes. After an exhaustive investigation 
covering a period of several months our members 
were fully enlightened in detail relative to these 
processes, by lectures and through the medium of 
enlarged photographs, charts, and stereopticon 
slides and by the publishing of several pamphlets 
on the subjects. 

About the same time steps were taken to or¬ 
ganize those employed at the gravure process, this 
action was met by opposition from some of these 
workers who formed a separate and independent 
union of gravure workers and made application 
to the American Federation of Labor for a charter. 
Their request was denied, and on April 10, 1916, 
the jurisdiction of the International Photo-En¬ 
gravers’ Union over all gravure work was fully 
reaffirmed Hie work of organizing was contin¬ 
ued with the result that at this time this branch 
of the industry is organized one hundred per cent 
in New York City and our Union has complete 
control over the gravure process. 

The first agreement covering gravure was en¬ 
tered into with the Publishers’ Association and 
became effective on July 31, 1916. The first 
agreement with the Employing Gravure Printers 
(commercial shops) which embraced all shops, 
was entered into and went into effect on August 
1, 1919. TTis was for a period of four months. 
A new agreement was entered into on December 
1, 1919, and provides for the same hours, wage 
scale and general condition as prevail in photo¬ 
engraving shops. 

Number One is entitled to the lion’s share of 
honors for the awakening of the photo-engravers 


of the country to the possibilities of the intaglio 
process and the dangers confronting them unless 
it was properly controlled and regulated. Money 
in no small amount was freely spent to carry on 
this survey and campaign, and sister locals can, 
and do attest to this statement as they were given 
unstintingly of the information gained by the in¬ 
vestigation of No. 1, through the booklets pub¬ 
lished and the medium of illustrated lectures in 
the cities of Boston and Philadelphia by Amos 
Spalding and in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chi¬ 
cago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Col¬ 
umbus, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, by E. J. Volz. 

Our jurisdiction over offset and lithographic 
workers was recognized by the A. F. of L. in 
July, 1916. 

The years 1914 and 1915 were serious ones in 
the history of our Union; many times during this 
period we were confronted with an out of work 
membership from 50 to ICO. Members working 
were assessed a regular amount weekly and in 
addition one-third of all overtime worked. A 
fund was created out of which benefits were paid 
to all journeymen and apprentices unemployed. 
This condition was brought about in a great mea¬ 
sure by the period of reaction due to the war rag¬ 
ing amongst the nations of Europe. 

In 1916 after having served four years as vice- 
president, E. J. Volz assumed office of president 
and shortly thereafter the Union entered into 
agreement with the Photo-Engravers’ Board of 
Trade, comprising the now famous clause No. 
10, the object of which was to establish the in¬ 
dustry on a better basis by eliminating trade 
abuses. 

The Board of Trade adopted a standard sell¬ 
ing scale and shortly after its inauguration in at¬ 
tempting to enforce it they were involved in a court 
action (April, 1917), the result of an indictment 
procured through the activities of various publishers 
associations in an endeavor to prosecute the Em¬ 
ploying Photo-Engravers for violation of a section 
of the Business Laws of New York State known 
as the Donnelly Act or Anti-Trust Law. While 
this matter was pending the Union was involved 
by an injunction procured by the Powers Engrav¬ 
ing Company, enjoining the Union as a party to 
an alleged conspiracy to destroy that concern. The 
Union was also served with papers informing it 
that from the same source a suit for $500,000 had 
been instituted to recover damages for alleged 
grievances that had proven detrimental to the 
progress and welfare of the Powers Engraving 
Company. 

Our members with the exception of a small 











































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percentage of those employed by that corpora¬ 
tion, immediately and individually resigned their 
positions without the slightest pressure from the 
Union officials, feeling that they could not con¬ 
sistently continue to render service to a concern 
that had obtained an injunction designed to ope¬ 
rate to the disadvantage of the Union and further, 
had instituted court action for half a million dollars 
in the suit for damages. 

This attitude assumed by our members working 
for the Powers Companies was greatly instru¬ 
mental in bringing about a settlement of the issues 
involved, and an agreement was reached whereby 
a release from the injunction and suit for dam¬ 
ages alleged was procured by the Union. 

This affair demonstrated beyond a shadow of 
doubt the solidarity of our organization and such 
a magnificent devotion to the cause by our mem¬ 
bers employed in the three Powers Companies 
was recognized by the Union in a fitting manner. 
Each man was reimbursed his full weekly salary 
until again employed, and by action of the 1917 
International convention each was the recipient of 
a complimentary and appreciative letter from the 
International Union commending him for his 
action. 

On the eighth day of February, 1918, a decis¬ 
ion was handed down by Justice Mulqueen, dis¬ 
missing indictments against members of the Board 
of Trade, wherein he says, photo-engraving is 
not a commodity in common use, but on the con¬ 
trary is rather an art or process. The court ex¬ 
tended credit to the Photo-Engravers’ Union, and 
the employers for raising the industry from a 
chaotic condition to a plane high enough to war¬ 
rant it being attractive to the employer and em¬ 
ploye alike. Hie learned jurist rendered his 
now famous decision only after a careful personal 
survey of the photo-engraving industry. He 
visited several shops in the city in order that he 
may be guided by a personal observation of the 
art of photo-engraving, which some, because of 
ulterior motives, would designate as a commodity 
in common use. 

An appeal was taken from Judge Mulqueen’s 
decision and carried to the Appellate Court where 
the decision was upheld in December, 1919. 

In the early part of the year 1918 (immediately 
after the rendering of Judge Mulqueen’s decision), 
the Union on recommendation of its officers and 
for the protection of its members and the industry 
in general, initiated a new departure by determin¬ 
ing to take into its own hands the matter of regu¬ 
lating the price at which the services of its mem¬ 
bers was to be sold, through the adoption and 



enforcements of a minimum selling price. This 
was necessary as the standard scale adopted by 
the employers was being generally disregarded. 

The task of formulating a selling price in equity 
to all concerned, the publisher, printer and other 
users of photo-engravings as well as the photo¬ 
engraver, consumed the best part of many days 
and nights, covering a period of investigation and 
research of over six months and a “Minimum Sell¬ 
ing Base” for photo-engravings was adopted at a 
regular meeting of the Union on Sunday, Sep¬ 
tember 18, 1918, and placed in operation Novem¬ 
ber 1, 1918. 

One year has passed since this radically pro¬ 
gressive step was initiated and today we find the 
photo-engraving industry in New York City on 
a firmer basis than ever before in the history of 
our Union. 

Enforcement of the minimum selling base was 
left in the hands of a committee composed of 
President E. J. Volz, Business Agent, William 
Doerr and Vice-President Frederick E. Katsch, 
who have not hesitated to withdraw and with¬ 
hold, the service of members employed in shops 
whose product was being sold at a price less than 
the cost of production and detrimental to the 
welfare of the industry. Every time the Union 
committee was compelled to resort to such mea¬ 
sures, the men returned to work with the under¬ 
standing that the employer would pay for all time 
lost, which was in each case for a period of from 
one to three or more days. 

In May, 1916, action was taken to raise a 
“Special Defense Fund” of $50,000 by the levy¬ 
ing of a small monthly assessment and recently the 
desired amount was complete. 

Commencing December 1 st, 1916, the hours for 
night workers in commercial shops were reduced 
from 48 to 42 and both Saturday and Sunday 
nights eliminated as working nights. 

President Volz on Friday, December 28, 1918, 
appeared before a sub-committee of the War 
Labor Board and pleaded the case of our mem¬ 
bers employed on newspapers, with the result 
that although bitterly opposed by the newspaper 
publishers association, whose most skillful represen¬ 
tatives presented argument against the case of 
the men. President Volz and the Union had 
supreme satisfaction several weeks later in a noti¬ 
fication from the War Labor Board that the 
newspaper men had been awarded an increase of 
$6 00 weekly over the then existing scale of $33 
per week for day workers and $36 for night work¬ 
ers from the date of November 20, 1918. This 
decision was appealed by the Newspaper Pub- 


si 


2S5 




Page Twenty-two 











































^\aix<ler 


William H. Adams 

CHAIRMAN 


George Seigmund 


Henry Merschrod 


Edward Taubenspeck 


Sec «CU&iel 




Herbert Breeden 

















* > 




u 








HONOR ROLL 


or member? o 





New York Photo Engraver) Union [No. 

who jerx/ed Ibeir CounNry 

during IheGreaN World War 



ADDISON, GEORGE B. 
ALBOHN. JOHN CHARGES 
ALMGREN, ARTHUR C. 
AMBEAR, ALFRED 
* AMMON, TOBIAS 
ARBE1TER, WILLIAM H. 
ARKETT, ALLEN 
ARMBRUSTER, THEO. 

ARM FI ELD, GEO. R. 
ARMSTRONG JAMES H. 
ARNOLD, JOHN JOSEPH 
BACHOFEN, AUGUST M. 
BARAN, EMLYN JAMES 
BARRETT, WILLIAM 
BARTELS, EHRICH F. 
BARTELS, WERNER 
BARTSCH, WILLIAM 
BAUM, CARL WALTER 
BAUNACH, GEORGE 
BEEHLER, JOHN 
BEEHBER, PHILIP, JR. 
BEISLER, CHARLES 
BENNETT, RAYMOND 
BERCH, ISAAC 
BETZEL. HENRY F. 
BICKERTON, BEN.T. F. t JR. 
BLACOE, ROBERT E. 

BLICK, JOHN 
BODOSSIAN, JOHN 
BOEHM, HARRY E. 
BOGOSIAN, CHARLES 
BOHLINGER, EDMUND 
BOBLHOEFER, WILLIAM C. 
BOO, JACOB 
BOSSARDET, JACOB 


BOURGES, FERNAND A. 
BOYAJIAN, APKAR 
BOURGINGON, LOUIS 
BRENNAN. THOMAS H. 
BRENNER, JOHN J. 
BRINSTER, FRANK 
BROCKWAY, CLIFFORD H. 
BROWN, EDWARD B. 
BROWN, WILLIAM F. 
BRUNNER, WILLIAM C. 
BUCKELEW, HAROLD N. 
BURKE, DENNIS 
BURKE, PERCY W. 
BURKLE, PHILIP 
BURlvLY, FRED 
BUSCH, CHARLES 
CANG1ANO, SALVADOR 
CARMODY, ARTHUR F. 
CARRENO. LOUIS J. 
CARNEY, EDW. 

CARRENO, LOUIS 
CASLIN. MICHAEL I. 
CAVALERO, GEORGE 
CAVANAUGH, PATRICK 
CHANKALIAN, EDWARD 
CHAN KALI AN, JAMES 
CHE BOO KI AN, HARRY G. 
CHETEJIAN, HAIK L. 
CHOOLHAJIAN, THOMAS 
*COHENDET, LOUIS C. 
COMISKEY, JAMES JOHN 
CONROY, BART. 
COSTELLO, THOS. 

COX, FRANK 


CRAVEN, JAMES A. 

CRAVEN, LAWRENCE F. 
CROST, WILLIAM 
DALLY, CLARENCE M. 
DAUBENBIS, RENE 
DEMAREST, NELSON 
DEMIRJIAN, FRED H. 
DENGLER, GEORGE CHAS. 

DE NIKE, ROBT. 

DERDIARI AN, MESROB 
DERMENJIAN, ARSHAG 
DILFER, HENRY 
DITTICK, EDWARD S. 
D1TTMEIER, GEORGE 
DIXON, JOS. C. 

DODGE, JOSEPH 
DOHERTY, WILLIAM H. 
DONALDSON, THOMAS S. 
DONDERO, PAUL 
DORN, JOS. 

DOYLE, JOHN 
DRIVER, LOUIS 
DUERNBERGER, WILLIAM T. 
DUFFY, EDWARD JOSEPH 
DUFFY, GEORGE FRANCIS 
EDELHAUSER, CHARLES 
ELLUM, HERBERT C. 
EDWARDSEN, OLE 
EMMERICH, LAWRENCE 
ERNST, LOUIS PHILIP 
FINCH, HAROLD 
FINESTONE, IRVING 
FINN, THOMAS 
FISHBEIN, IRVING 


n 




=3l 


I ! 

j 


i i 


I / 


LLjl 


1±Jl~U 


Page Twenty-four 















































































































♦ 


FISCHER, HENRY 
FITZGERALD, JOHN R. 
FLYNN, JOSEPH J. 
FOGARTY, GEORGE J. 
FORKEL, HERMAN 
FRIEDMAN, RALPH 
GADOMSEY, ANTHONY 
GALLOWAY, JOHN 
GARLICK, STEPHEN W. 
GAUL, HENRY A. 

GAWLIK, WILLIAM H. 
GIBSON, JAMES HARRY 
GLUCHOWSK1, ALEX. 
GOEBEL, JOSEPH J. 

GOLD, ARCHIBALD 
GOULD, LAWRENCE 
GRIFFIN, ARCHIBALD W. 
GROSSMAN, CHARLES 
HAAG, EDWARD WILLIAM 
HAAG, JOSEPH F. 
HALSTEAD, HENRY W. 
HANNE, ROBERT 
♦ HARPER, MILFORD R. 
HARPER, ROLAND H. 
HARPER, WILLIAM J. 
HARTW1CH, FRED AUGUST 
HASSARD, CLARENCE E. 
HAYMAN, ROBERT 
HEIL, WILLIAM S. 
HEMPSTEAD, FRANK 
HENNESSY, JOSEPH W. 
HENRY, JOSEPH 
HERSKOWITZ, BENJAMIN 
HERMES, LOUIS 
HIGGINS, JOHN T. 
HESSELBACH, JOHN A. 
HILL, JOHN MORTIMER 
HILTON, THOMAS 
HOFFMAN. WILLIAM 
HOLDEN, FRANK 
HOPKINS, W. P. 

HORN, GEORGE 
HUGHES, LLEWELLYN 
HUNTER, WALTER 
ICNATIOS, KARNIG 
JESBERGER, NICHOLAS 
JIRINEC, ALBERT 
JOHNSON, SHERMAN E. 
JONES, JOHN C. 
JUNGERMAN, WM. 

KALEB, JOSEPH 
KANE, JOHN J. 

KARAGOOSI AN, CHAS. 
KATZ, CHARLES 
KAUFMANN, GUSTAVE F. 
KEBALEJIAN, JOHN 
KEISER, JULIUS 
KELSER, JULIUS G. 

KELLY, ANTHONY J. 

KENT, ALFRED F. 

KIEFER. AUGUST H. 

KLEIN, LOUIS, JR. 

KLEIN, PAUL 
KLINE, HARRY 
KOCH, JOHN 
KOOP. CHESTER G. 


KOPPEL, SIDNEY 
KUNZ, PETER E. 

LAIRD, TH. 

LAMB, OWEN ANDREW 
LAMPE, JAMES H. 
LAND1ERO, NICHOLAS 
LANGGUTH, PHILIP 
I,ARSON, OSCAR 
LAVEZOLI, CHARLIE P. 
LAYER, JOSEPH P. 

LINK, JUSTUS A. 

L1PTER, FRED 
LITZKO, WALTER E. 
LOGAN, JAMES 
LOPAZ, FRANK 
LOVE, EDWARD JOSEPH 
LUXEMBURG, FELIX W. 
LYNCH, EDWARD 
MACAULAY, RICHARD J. 
MACHER, HARRY 
M AGNUSEN, ANDREW 
MANGHISI, ANDREW T. 
MARAC1NE, GEO. 

M ARK ARIA N, HAIG 
MAT THAI, LOUIS 
McCarthy, roland 
M cGINN, DAN J. 

McKEW, THOMAS 
McNAMARA, ALBERT W. 
McNIFF, JAMES 
MECHMANN, CHARLES 
MEIER, ROBERT, JR. 
MERTZ, ROBERT 
MERZ, LOUIS 
METTLE R, EDWARD 
MEYER, FRED 
M1 KALI AN, MTCH AEL 
MILAN, JOSEPH 
MILES, BENJAMIN 
MILLER, CHARLES W. 
MILLER, FREDERICK W. 
MI NET, RICHARD A. 
MINOGUE, JAMES 
M1TSON, ORTON H. 
MIZRAKJIAN, CHARLES 
MOCK, PETER 
MOLL, JOSEPH 
MOLT, ALBERT 
MORGAN, WALTER A. 
MOTSCHENBACHER, H. S 
MUELLER, EDWARD, JR. 
MURRAY, EDW. J. 
NATHAN, LOUIS 
NATHAN, MAURICE 
NEUNZIG, FREDERICK 
NIGOSI AN, BERJ. 

NOBILE, STEPHEN 
NUSSBAUM, PETER 
O’BRIEN, JOHN J. 
O’BRIEN, THOMAS J. 
O’DONNELL, MICHAEL 
ORCH AMI AN MASIB 
PARSEGHAN, EDWARD G 
PAULSON, ANDREW J. 
PAYNE, GEORGE A. 
PEPPER, WALTER 


PERSSON, JOSEPH 
PHILLIPS, JOHN 
♦ PILGER, HENRY 
PINE, EDWARD 
PLAUT, REUBEN 
POWER, JAMES A. 

RAU, GEORGE A. 

REARDON, JAMES 
REICHENBACH, GEORGE 
REILLY, FRANK THOMAS 
RICKARD, ROBERT 
RIETH, CHRISTIAN 
RINGSTON, C., JR. 
ROBERTS, FRANK 
ROCKER, JOHN 
ROGAN, JOHN 
ROLFE, ARTHUR 
ROSE, HERMANN, JR. 
ROTCHFORD, HARRY 
SACHT, ARTHUR 
SANDERS, ERNEST C. 
SANGER, ERNEST, JR. 
SATTLER, EDWARD 
SCHAREN, FERDINAND 
♦ SCHLEGEL, FRANK 
SCHLICKER, HOWARD 
SCHLICHT, PAUL 
SCHLOEMER, CONRAD 
SCHMIDT, EMIL 
SCHMIDT, JOE 
SCHNEIDER, EDWARD 
♦SCHNEIDER, GEO. EDW. 
SCHOENBACHLER, C. GEO. 
SCHOENFELD, ERNEST P. 
SCHOTANUS, CHAS. 
SCHULTZ, CHARLES 
SCHURMANN, EDW. 

SEIDE, WILLIAM 
SESSA, G. ANTHONY 
SESSA, CHARLES M. 
*SEYDEL, FRANK A. 
SHAFFER, ALEXANDER E. 
SHAMPAIN, LEO. M. 
SINCLAIR, WM. J., JR. 
SLAGEN, FRANK 
SLATER. FRANK 
SMILEY, MAURICE 
SMITH. DAVE 
SMITH, GEORGE F. 
SNYDER, HAROLD H. 
SNYDER, WM. H. 
SPEICHER, LEONARD 
STEGER, HENRY 
STUKE, ADOLPH HENRY 
STURM, HENRY 
SWENSON, ERIC 
TAUBENSPECK, FRED 
TELCHOW, CHAS. 

. TEXOON, HARRY 
TILLIE, WILLIAM 
TOPILI AN, AARAN 
TOR ASIAN, ARAM 
VAN DUZER, EDWIN T. 
VAN DUZER, WM. C. 


VOELKER, ALBERT C. 
VOGGI, JOHN 
VONDERHORST, WM. 
VORNLOCKER, GEO. 
WALLACE, CARLTON 
WALSH, JOHN 
WARD, HARRY W. 

WARD, JAMES J. 

WELZ, WILLIAM 
♦ WEND, WILLIAM 
WEPPLER, GEORGE 
WEPPLER, JOHN B. 
WHEELER, FRANK OTTO 
WHITE, HENRY 
WIEBALK, CHARLES JOHN 
WIEBE, FRANK J. 

WIGHT, WILLIAM 
WILMOT, ANDREW 
WINKLER, FRED. 
WINERROTH, EMIL C. 
WISNOFSKY, EMIL J. 
YAZIGG, GEORGE 
YOUNG, IRVING W. 

YUTTE, HENRY 
ZAHNER, M. WILLIAM 
ZAPF, HERMAN 
ZIEFLE, HENRY C. 
ZOELLER, MICHAEL G. 


♦ Killed or died in service 


; J. 


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Pngo Twenty-five 
































rai 





Iishers and the War Labor Board reaffirmed its 
previous decision in April, 1919, and the news¬ 
paper photo-engravers were recipients a few days 
later of back pay according to the award of 
amounts which in many instances was in excess 
of $100.00. 

On January 1, 1919, all commercial shop mem¬ 
bers received an increase of $3 00 weekly. Both 
these increases to newspaper and commercial men 
working under separate agreement were obtained 
without resort to the breaking of agreements with 
our employers, which were in existence. The 
agreement with commercial houses in operation 
from December 1, 1916, expired a few weeks 
ago and the new agreement entered into on that 
date increased the wage scale from $30.00 to 
$44.00 for day workers and from $35 to $49 for 
night workers, and reduced the hours of work from 
48 to 44 hours per week for day workers, and 
from 42 to 40 hours for night workers; it further 
provided for a 10 per cent general increase to all 
members irrespective of salary. This agreement is 
further evidence that the Photo-Engravers’ Union 
No. 1, is one of the most progressive labor organi¬ 
zations in the country. The printing industry of 
this city has recently been convulsed in an up¬ 
heaval, due to the demands of certain organiza¬ 
tions in an effort to obtain the 44 hours week for 
their members, but this Union has achieved the 
shorter hour week without resorting to the strike 
weapon. (These new conditions and wage scales 
also apply to all gravure shops.) 

In the spring and summer of 1919 the 
Board of Health, New York City, under sup¬ 
ervision of Commissioner Dr. R. S. Cope¬ 
land, conducted an exhaustive physical examina¬ 
tion of the employes of photo-engraving estab¬ 
lishments at the instigation of Photo-Engravers’ 
Union No. 1. The idea being to determine 
whether men employed at different branches of 
the trade were subject to particular kinds of dis¬ 
ability or ailments which the use of chemicals, 
acids, inks, etc., may produce. Inspectors and 
doctors also examined and investigated sanitary 
conditions of the shops with a view to improving 
ventilation of dark rooms, etching rooms, and in 
fact creating better, cleaner and more healthful 
workrooms for the employe. Later in the year 
every man examined received by mail from the 
Board of Health a statement of his physical con¬ 
dition at the time of examination, advising him 
of his particular ailment. This procedure marks 
a new departure in the progress of the labor 
union movement and demonstrates that Photo- 
Engravers’ Union No. 1 is alert at all times, to 


take advantage of public agencies in an effort 
to procure better working conditions, and through 
them safeguard the well being of its members. 

Meetings called for the purpose of determin¬ 
ing the cost finding system were the inspiration 
which led to the inauguration of the meeting 
which is held annually in a City high school 
auditorium, the third Sunday of January. At¬ 
tendance is compulsory to the individual member 
under penalty of a five dollar fine, and many 
perplexing questions have been solved by the 
membership at these meetings Men high in the 
councils of State and Nation have been privileged 
to address the annual meetings and on each occa¬ 
sion they have been profuse in complimentary re¬ 
marks regarding the procedure, conduct and 
thorough businesslike atmosphere surrounding these 
sessions. 

The record of our members during the progress 
of the great war since the date America entered 
the lists as a combatant is one to which we can 
point with great pride; more than 300 journey¬ 
men and apprentices, or about 20 per cent of the 
members were clothed in the uniform of Uncle 
Sam on land, and sea. Eight members paid the 
supreme sacrifice and many were wounded in 
action. The different drives. Liberty Bonds, Red 
Cross, etc , were supported in a measure that com¬ 
pelled recognition by the authorities as second to 
none among labor unions throughout the length 
and breadth of the country. 

In December, 1919, per capita tax was paid 
to our International Union for 1,751 members, 
demonstrating our remarkable growth as an or¬ 
ganization. This will be better appreciated when 
it is known that this number comprises practically 
every competent photo-engraver in this locality. 

A quarter century of time has elapsed since 
the inception of Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1, 
1894, and many and varied events have passed 
into history, times of great sacrifice have been ex¬ 
perienced, and through them all our organiza¬ 
tion has ridden to success. And now it is to the 
younger element with a sprinkling of older and 
more mature minds that we must depend upon fac¬ 
ing the future; a future which no man can fore¬ 
tell, but with a realization born of actual exper¬ 
iences of the past, it is not too much to assume 
that those upon whose shoulders will rest the 
burden of responsibility, backed by the solid sup¬ 
port of the general membership we will weather 
the rough seas of Time and continue our magni¬ 
ficent and glorious movement in the forefront of 
organized labor. Our maxim—“Build your house 
on solid jock, all other ground is sinking sand.” 



Page Twenty-six 











































i: 



x \{ordR.Ha 


Rejoice for them, rejoice; 

They made the nobler choice. 

How shall we honor their 
deed— 

How speak cur praise of this 
immortal breed? 

Only by living nobly as they 
died— 

Toiling for Truth denied, 

Loyal to something bigger 
than we are— 

Something that swings the 
spirit to a star 


Louis Coh 



G nde t 


George E. Schneider 


ju P. 




ScLle^eJ 






Members of ibe N.Y. Pbofo-EnjJravers Union No. 1 I.P.E.U. 
Who made fbe supreme sacrifice in ibc Grcai World War. 














We should ever be grateful to the pioneers for 
their fortitude, devotion, and courage, in sticking 
to the task of creating the Photo-Engravers’ Union 
and the heritage they have handed down to the 
members of today. Some whose names are affixed 
to the original charters have since passed into the 
great beyond; to their memory and to those who 
are still in the ranks of the living we extend our 
heartfelt and sincere thanks. 

To those who have conducted the affairs of 
Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1 at various times in 
official capacity during the past years, we extend 
greetings of an appreciative membership in 1919. 

Following are the names of men who have been 
honored by their brother members, in being called 
upon to lead the Photo-Engravers’ Union No 1, 
during the past twenty-five years, as Presidents 
and Business Agents, in order of service. 

PRESIDENTS: 

Theodore Attworth 

November, 1894, January 1, 1896 

Donald Fraser, 1896 

Theodore Attworth, 1897 
Resigned 

Thomas Kelly, 1897 
Filled in unexpired term 

Patrick Fagan, 1898-99 
Edward Shelly, 1900-01-02 
Arsham Andonian, 1903 
Otto Metz, 1904-05 
Arsham Andonian, 1906 
William Zehr, 1907-08 
John Taggart, 1909 
Harry Gibson, 1910 
Peter J. Brady, 1911-12-13-14-15 

Edward J. Volz, 1916-17-18-19 
And elected to serve in 1920 

BUSINESS AGENTS: 

George W. Dunn, 1896 
To December 31, 1905 

Charles Walls, 1906-07 
Arsham Andonian, 1908-9-10 
Donald Fraser, 1911-12 

William Doerr, 1913-14-15-16-17-18-19 

And elected to serve in 1920 


At the time of amalgamation, 1904, Messrs. 
Dunn and Walls representing respectively No. 1 
and No. 23 Unions, acted as co-business agents 
for a period of sixty days. 

The Union met regularly at various times in 
the following places: 

Backhausen’s Hall, No. 243 Bowery; Mrs. 
Wilzeg’s Hall, No. 85 East 4th Street; Walther’s 
Hall, 74 East 4th Street; Arlington Hall, St. 
Mark’s Place; Bethoven Hall, 210 East 5th 
Street and our present assembly room in the World 
Building. 

Our first business office was maintained at 13 
New Chambers Street, and moved successively 
to No. 1 Beekman Street, 1st floor, then the same 
building to the top floor; from No. 1 Beekman 
Street to 804 Morton Building, 1 16 Nassau Street, 
then to the World Building, room 528 and later 
to the present suite, 502. 

The Union held picnics at Sulzer’s Harlem 
River Park, Feltman’s, Coney Island; Iron Pier, 
Coney Island; Rigewood Park, L. I., and the 
Annual Balls have been celebrated at Clarendon 
Hall, Webster Hall, Arlington Hall, Teutonia 
Hall, Palm Garden and the last four at Central 
Opera House 


It is the sincere desire of the writer that at some 
future date an effort will be made to write a more 
comprehensive account of the early days of No. 
1, reciting the sacrifices made by men who often 
contributed a week’s salary, and countless nights 
to perfect an organization. Much of this work 
was done under the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge, 
and in enthusiasm of accomplishment, how it was 
to be done was not thought of; the one object, 
single in the minds of these men was, it must be 
done; and it was born, nursed, and nourished, 
until it grew to be a great factor in the labor 
movement;—Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1, 
New York City. 























































r 

i 


Vhe INTER! PHOTOENGRAVERS UNION/NA. 

By MATTHEW WOLL ~ PRESIDENT 


C3N 




-T 265- 



A GOOD CAUSE MAKES A STRONG ARM. THE INTERNATIONAL PHOTO- 
ENGRAVERS’ UNION HAS GROWN AND DEVELOPED AND 
PROSPERED BECAUSE ITS CAUSE IS JUST. 



L 


N the palmy days of Rome and 
Greece, when even the wise 
Aristotle declared slavery to be 
a “natural” condition, the trade 
union was not an unknown 
factor. As Rome extended 
her conquests, slaves increased 
in number and the free artisans grew more and 
firmer allied. 

All through the Middle Ages the trade union 
survived. The barbarian invasions, the wreck of 
the empire, the contest of rival nationalities never 
completely swamped it beneath its deluging floods. 
In England, “Merrie England,” the lot of the 
workers was most often a hard one. 

While the church hurled damnation and sul¬ 
phur, and the State cell and gallows, for such “un¬ 
lawful” agitation and conspiracies by the workers, 
still the unions grew constantly in numbers, strength 
and influence. WTether as clubs, or mutual aid 
societies, the artisans rallied around them as their 
only centre of strength. 

But the struggle still continues. The downfall 
of the hereditary crown and baron and privileged 
gentry was but the shedding of the outer garment. 
The power once incarnate in the pontiff, then 
divided among crowned heads, and finally spread 
out to parliamentary legislation, was still militant. 
The conflict is but transferred to other fields. The 
religious and political battlefields are today flow¬ 
ering meadows, but the spirit which trod them with 
warring hoofs, now benignly smiles over the ledgers 
of the countingrooms. 

In the economic struggle of the ages lords and 
nobles have lost their gold lace and velvet; they 
still survive to a large degree as economic and 


financial lords of the means of life and the trade 
union cannot yet draw in its advance guard of 
pickets. Indeed, the very fact that trade unions 
exist in greater numbers than ever and are mani¬ 
festing increasing activity, is evidence that inequit¬ 
able economic conditions still exist. 

Whether conscious or unconscious, this is the 
spirit and impulse which gave birth and growth 
and strength, power and influence to the Interna¬ 
tional Photo-Engravers’ Union of North America. 
This has been the natural channel through which 
the protest of the photo-engravers was first heard 
and is the barometrical indicator of its strength 
and validity. 

- The International Photo-Engravers’ Union of 
North America was not created by design or any 
pre-conceived plan. It is not the product of any 
one man or set of men. It has come into existence 
gradually, hastened only by the bitter experiences 
and evil consequences suffered by unorganized 
craftsmen in a highly competitive profession and 
state of society. 

The organized movement of the photo-engrav¬ 
ers did not grow up spontaneously. Its early growth 
and development was not spasmodic but sporadic. 
It suffered many set-backs and encountered many 
complex and perplexing obstacles. 

The photo-engravers first organized under the 
parentage of the International 1 ypographical 
Union. Prior to the year of 1897, there were ap¬ 
proximately six local unions in the United States. 
All of them were affiliated with the International 
Typographical Union. 

On October 1 7, 1897, a local union of photo¬ 
engravers was organized in the city of Philadel¬ 
phia. It started business with forty charter mem- 





Page Twenty-nine 




























































bers, but refused, however, to affiliate with the 
International Typographical Union. It pro¬ 
ceeded, instead, to work out its own salvation 
independent of any international union other than 
one composed entirely of photo-engravers. The 
Philadelphia Union was strongly in favor of an 
International Photo-Engravers’ Union, and it let 
no occasion pass by whenever it had an oppor¬ 
tunity to preach this gospel to the photo-engravers 
in other cities. 

On July 6, 7 and 8, 1899, there was held in 
the city of Columbus, Ohio, what was known as 
the First Annual Conference of the Photo-En¬ 
gravers’ Trade District Union. Hie main ob¬ 
jects for the consideration of that conference, 
briefly stated, were: the formation of a photo¬ 
engravers’ trade district union under the jurisdic¬ 
tion of the International Typographical Union; 
the drawing up of a constitution and by-laws by 
which such trade district union should be gov¬ 
erned; to insist, as far as practical, upon a uni¬ 
form wage scale throughout the country, and the 
regulation of the apprentice question. Jas. G. 
Cain, of New York, was elected chairman of that 
conference, and Chas. J. Doyle, of Chicago, was 
elected secretary. 

Nineteen local unions of photo-engravers were, 
at that time, affiliated with the International 
Typographical Union. This number did not in¬ 
clude the Philadelphia Union, which still asserted 
its independence. 

In October, 1900, quite a respectable gather¬ 
ing of delegates from local photo-engravers’ unions 
assembled in New York City for the avowed pur¬ 
pose of launching an International Photo-Engrav¬ 
ers’ Union. It was there, on October 22, 1900, 
that the International Photo-Engravers’ Union of 
N. A. was organized. Temporary officers, in the 
persons of John R. Bevan, of Philadelphia, as 
President, and W. Palmer Hall, of Washington, 
as secretary, were elected, and a call was there 
issued for the first convention of the I. P. E, U. 
to be held in Philadelphia, on November 29, 
1900. 

At that convention the following local unions 
were represented: New York, Baltimore, Boston, 
Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Washing¬ 
ton Fifteen delegates were present. The con¬ 
vention lasted two days, sessions being held morn¬ 
ing, afternoon and evening, on both of those days. 
A constitution and by-laws were drafted and 
adopted, and the following officers were elected: 
President, John R. Bevan, of Philadelphia; 
Vice-President, Wm. L. Elliott, of Chicago; Sec¬ 
retary, W. Palmer Hall, of Washington, D. C., 


and Treasurer D. W. C. Cammeyer, of New 
York. 

The International Typographical Union de¬ 
nounced this movement as one of secession from 
its ranks and steadfastly refused to waive its 
claims of jurisdictional rights over the photo-en¬ 
gravers of North America. Ultimately, however, 
realizing that the I. P. E. U. was a bona fide 
international movement, and was growing rapidly 
all the time, the International Typographical 
Union was compelled to abandon its unfriendly 
attitude, and it withdrew its objections to a char¬ 
ter being issued by the American Federation of 
Labor. As a consequence, on May 20, 1904, 
the American Federation of Labor granted a 
charter to the I. P. E. U. 

The birth and growth and development of the 
International Photo-Engravers’ Union may well 
be likened to the birth and development of the 
greatest democracy in the world — the great 
American Republic—the United States of Amer¬ 
ica. Pioneering its way in an undeveloped indus¬ 
trial field, ploughing its course through wilderness, 
confronted on every hand with pitfalls of every 
conceivable nature and bound by allegiance to a 
trade union government, whose principle and at¬ 
titude conformed in many details to the principles 
and attitude of Great Britain toward the early 
colonists, the organized movement of the photo¬ 
engravers may well be styled as having been revo¬ 
lutionary in its general characteristics And like 
the great American Republic, the International 
Photo-Engravers’ Union, though one of the small¬ 
est in number, looms forth in the organized labor 
world of today as one of the strongest, most effi¬ 
cient, most constructive, most just and fair and 
progressive trade union movements in America. 

Fought by the great International Typograph¬ 
ical Union in its inception, the President of the 
International Photo-Engravers’ Union is today, 
and has for a number of years, been chosen suc¬ 
cessively and unanimously as the President of the 
International Allied Printing Trades Association. 

Denied entry into the councils of the American 
Federation of Labor until May 20, 1904, the 
President of the International Photo-Engravers’ 
Union has been recently elected unanimously by 
the convention of the American Federation of 
Labor as one of its Vice-Presidents and one of 
the Executive Officers of this great American labor 
movement. 

Since the organization of the International 
Photo-Engravers’ Union in 1900, over 7,778 
journeymen photo-engravers have been enrolled 
as members. Some of those members have died 











































Mathew Woll 


^iorrocks 


Henry p 


Charles 


Executive Council of the 
International Photo Engravers Union of N.A 



















































r 


t 


and others have left the trade to take up different 
pursuits. At the present time, approximately 
5,500 journeyman photo-engravers holding mem¬ 
bership I. P. E. U. work cards, are employed in 
the photo-engraving shops throughout the juris¬ 
diction of the International Union. Approxi¬ 
mately ninety-eight per cent of the workmen en¬ 
gaged in the photo-engraving craft in America 
are members of the I. P. E. U., and over ninety- 
five per cent of the workshops in the United 
States and Canada are controlled by the Inter¬ 
national Union. 

The International Photo-Engravers’ Union has 
been a prominent and vital factor in the develop¬ 
ment of the art and craft of producing photo¬ 
engravings. It has secured not only the eight hour 
work-day, but commencing January 1, 1920, it 
will have established the forty-four hour work¬ 
week for all or nearly all its members. It has 
regulated the apprentice question, has made for 
a better workmanship and a more efficient and 
skilled worker; it has obtained better working 
conditions for its members; it has brought about 
sanitary reforms in the workshops; it has success¬ 
fully negotiated agreements and wage scales 
wherever its local unions are situated; it has for 
a number of years past, operated a tuberculosis 
department, which provides for the care and 
treatment of its members who may become afflicted 
with tuberculosis; it provides a suitable funeral 
benefit at the time of death of a member; it has 
had in operation for some years a technical and 
research department for the benefit of its members 
and with the full development of plans now pend¬ 
ing for additional and more extensive trade and 
welfare departments, it is destined to become an 
indispensable institution to th€ art and process of 
producing photo-engrayings. It is freely conceded 
as being one of the greatest forces in the develop¬ 
ment of the art and craft itself. 

Whatever opinion may be entertained regard¬ 
ing the truth or fallacy of the oft repeated and 
much less understood statements that “capital and 
labor are interests diametrically opposed to one 
another,” and that “the gain of one must prove 
of loss to the other”; the fact is clearly established 
in the photo-engraving craft that a loss entailed 
by the employers is a distinctive loss incurred by 
the employes and that where a gain has been 
secured by employers, a gain has been obtained 
by the employes. It is clearly established that the 
International Photo-Engravers’ Union has at all 
times encouraged the investment of capital in the 
photo-engraving craft. 

Hie capital, as compared with the labor in¬ 



vested in the photo-engraving craft, is compara¬ 
tively small. The art and process of producing 
photo-engravings, like the work of an author, 
painter or composer, is not a mechanical opera¬ 
tion. It is the result of years of painstaking effort 
and training which demands artistic talent and 
requires constant individual judgment and discre¬ 
tion of the highest order. 

Hie relation of the photo-engravers to the pub¬ 
lic generally, and the purchasers of photo-engrav¬ 
ings particularly, is one of personal service and 
not one for the sale of a marketable commodity 
or article of trade. These are not alone con¬ 
clusions of law, but are the sound judgment, 
predicated on actual facts and experiences had 
since the development of this modern art of pro¬ 
ducing and reproducing artistic works and designs 
of all descriptions. 

Because the art and process of photo-engrav¬ 
ing is a personal and individual service and not 
the manufacture of a commodity or article of 
trade, great difficulties have been encountered in 
properly estimating the value of the service ren¬ 
dered to the producers of designs, illustrations and 
engravings. These difficulties have been found 
extremely accentuated because the employer, 
through whom this service is contracted for, in 
many instances has little, if any, practical and 
trained knowledge of the value of the service 
rendered, or of the actual cost involved. 

To remove these difficulties, to adequately 
compensate the workers for services rendered and 
to deal equitably and fairly with employers and 
all who contract for their services through them, 
the International Photo-Engravers’ Union has 
undertaken to establish a standard guide, founded 
on the cost of production, operation and adminis¬ 
tration, by which to estimate the value of the 
service and determine the price the purchaser of 
the service of its members should pay in order to 
prevent a lowering of conditions of work or lessen 
the wages of its members, to which of right they 
are entitled, and which are essential to maintain 
the art and craft on an efficient and high order. 

Though early conceived as a movement of op¬ 
position and to be repressed on every occasion, 
the employers of members of the International 
Union have come to fully realize the fallacy of 
their original conviction and within the past five 
years they have come to look upon the Interna¬ 
tional Photo-Engravers’ Union as a blessing. 
While a few years past, the I. P. E. U. 
was hated and despised and fought against, today 
the organized labor movement of the photo-en¬ 
gravers is hailed as a saviour of the photo-engrav- 



; i 


Page Thirty-two 










































ing craft. No important move is contemplated, 
much less undertaken, unless the International 
Photo-Engravers’ Union has first been consulted 
and has approved whatever policy or undertaking 
is under consideration. 

Thus, the International Photo-Engravers’ 
Union of North America is the first trade union 
which has intelligently, and in an orderly fashion, 
established firmly the principles of democracy in 
industry and has practically attained that ideal for 
which the wage earners of all lands are at pres¬ 
ent yearning and to which they aspire. 

From a mere weakling, oppressed on every side 
and depressed by every hand, the International 
Photo-Engravers’ Union has struggled and sacri¬ 
ficed to emerge out of a condition of tyranny, 
misery and destitution into a life of hope, encour¬ 
agement, decency and comfort. From a frail, 
fragile and loose combination of wage earners it 
has developed into one of the strongest, one of 
the most efficient and one of the most constructive 
and progressive trade union organizations in the 
American—aye, the World’s labor movement. 


The International Photo-Engravers’ Union of 
North America today looks to the Old as predi¬ 
cated on compulsion, to the New as founded on 
voluntary co-operation. It no longer looks back¬ 
ward for its title deed, but forward to a growing 
solidarity of mutual interests. Reflecting upon the 
Old as rooted in militancy and blossoming in en¬ 
forced direction, it observes the New rooted in 
peace and budding in mutual concert of aid and 
action. In its constant moments, it stands arrayed 
in defense; in its stern realities it sees co-operative 
solidarity and cries with Bobby Burns: 


A? 


“A fig for those by law protected! 

Liberty’s a glorious feast! 

Courts for cowards were erected, 

Churches built to please the priest.” 


And to these impressive truths it adds: 

v 

“Governments for those who need regulation. 

Trade unions for the masses who demand pro¬ 
tection!” 



In 1886. In rear: BOB KIRBY; front row, left to right: EDWARD HERITAGE " EUGENE 
MENYHART - HOWARD ARTIST - EDWARD TRIPP - GEORGE FREIKNECHT 
HARRY WESTCOTT - JOHN CARACASH - CHAS. HANCOCK - WM. DOERR 

and HARRY T1LFORD. 


Page Thirty-four 


























































> 

[>\ 

\< 




































oiar^ 



MAKE DEMOCRACY SAEE FOR THE WORLD 



I 

II 


OTWITHSTANDING the 

many trying and serious prob¬ 
lems and difficulties with which 
industry and business in gen¬ 
eral has had to contend during 
the period of the first year 
of peace and reconstruction, 
nevertheless, the American business man of today 
is optimistic and looks with considerable confi¬ 
dence and enthusiasm on the prospects for the 
future. 

The same spirit backed by American manhood 
to make the world safe for democracy has also 
been called into action to make democracy safe 
for the world with the same ultimate result. Class 
imperialism, boasting of its power, more especial¬ 
ly in the key industries, has likewise gone down 
to defeat and a post-war patriotism aroused main¬ 
taining that the production demands of peace are 
no less than those of war. The conviction is 
growing among all classes, with some regretable 
exceptions, that the real struggle is not between 
the factors of production, labor and capital, or 
the employer and employe, but that their interest 
is one and that the growing need, is volume, qual¬ 
ity and variety of useful commodities. 

I believe that the American laborer should be 
in a position to receive the highest wage as well 
as the most favorable working conditions for him¬ 
self, and advantages for his family, not measured 
by the minimum subsistence, for the reason that 
he should be able to create more here than his 
fellow worker in other lands. This is contingent 
however upon the attitude of the laborer himself, 
individually and as a member of a labor organ¬ 
ization. 

The unions must realize the proper scope of 
their activities and their limitations. They can¬ 
not by virtue of mere force, and the position of ad¬ 
vantage enjoyed from time to time, without reason 
or consideration, redistribute capital or indus¬ 


trial products. Laws of distribution are operat¬ 
ing which working units even though efficiently 
organized cannot overcome. Relative high wages, 
may be either a blessing or a curse to both the 
employer and employe; advantage to the employer 
when it makes an employe contented, earnest, 
painstaking, in short when it increases the unit 
of product to be marketed. A disadvantage to 
the employer when it simply increases his cost 
of production, quantity and quality remaining the 
same and when the only subjective effect upon 
the workman’s mind is to incite him to demand 
more rather than create more. 

Our photo-engraving industry is peculiar in 
many respects, we give a service rather than make 
goods. We cannot store this service. This ser¬ 
vice has no general demand, it supplies only the 
particular need or necessity of the party purchas¬ 
ing. In short, we are victims of the circumstances 
of each day and must be in a position to take 
quick advantage of opportunities when they arise 
to cover costs of less favorable occasions. Re¬ 
strictive shop rules, unreasonable restriction of ap¬ 
prentices, unreasonable limitations as to what 
journeymen may be expected to do in any given 
unit of time, all add to labor cost and must be 
considered a part of the wage. 

Advertising agencies and publicity organiza¬ 
tions were never in abler hands or conducted 
along more scientific lines than at the present 
time. Through their campaigns of education and 
instructive propaganda, the business world now 
understands that advertising and publicity in busi¬ 
ness is an economic necessity and not a wasteful 
and unwarranted expense of distribution. 

Here lies our greatest hope. Co-operating 
with these men of big affairs, users of our product; 
in finding new markets; in creating new wants 
and new needs for our service. As photo-en¬ 
gravers to do this, however, we must secure 
through the unstinted aid and support of the 










































































Mu 




Kn.mT'-ow,- 



DESIGNERS 

AHD MAKERS 

or 


PHONES 3880-3881 
BEEKMAN 


165-167 WILLIAM ST. 
NEW YORK 


journeymen in our shop organizations, more elastic 
means to respond to the demands of an expanding 
market. To meet the growing wage exactions 
they must be distributed over larger gross output. 
Let our journeymen and their leaders be the first 
to recognize that every increase in wages need not 
of necessity be passed on to the purchasing public, 
but may be paid out of the margin of larger out¬ 
put. 

If the worker has a right to an interest in di¬ 
recting the production of goods it must be subject 
to the same control, however, as the other factors 
likewise entering into the product. 

We know, and might as well confess, our prod¬ 
uct is only in a minor sense a necessity and there 
is a more or less fixed limitation of the price at 
which we can sell either quantity or quality. 
Substitution of other processes are already being 
keenly felt in our industry. Hie conclusion is 
inevitable, to insure higher wages, better working 
conditions, make it possible for more capital to 
secure a suitable return without extra hazard 
Make it possible for enterprising executives to de¬ 


vote their time and energy to co-ordinate the 
producing factors, eliminate waste, the extrava¬ 
gant and unnecessary overhead of poorly 
equipped plants; to effect policies making skilled 
labor more mobile and elastic, in short, make it 
possible for the photo-engraving industry to fully 
measure up to the exigencies of our new expand¬ 
ing and growing conditions. 

Let me add by way of conclusion that indus¬ 
trially, as well as individually, organization is 
indispensable to growth, nevertheless, growth to 
be healthy and permanent is not to be forced, 
but should be directed cautiously and judiciously. 
We have the essentials of a thriving, prosperous 
industry. What we need is a more liberal policy 
in the supply of real craftsmen and a realization 
on the part of the journeymen of their share of 
responsibility in nourishing this craft to its full 
size and proportion. 

I take this occasion to extend my best wishes 
and felicitations to the officers and members of 
New York Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1, on 
their twenty-fifth anniversary as an organization. 


Page Thirty-six 

























































TRUE CO-OPERATION 

By EUGENE C. MILLER, EX-PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PHOTO-ENGRAVERS’ASSOCIATION. 


NE of the pleasures that go 
with the office of President of 
the American Photo-Engrav¬ 
ers’ Association is the privilege 
of meeting the leaders in our 
craft. This includes employ¬ 
ers and employes and presents an opportunity to 
get in close touch with both sides. 

It has been a great pleasure for me to come in 
contact with the members of the Photo-Engravers’ 
Union in New York City, and although I have 
not always agreed with you, on the whole, I must 
acknowledge that your organization has been 
doing and is doing some real constructive work 
and in my humble opinion, you have helped the 
craft along from the viewpoint of the employer 
as well as that of the employe. 

Our branch of the printing trade has been 
working in greater harmony than any other of the 
various crafts embraced under the head of the 
Allied Printing Trades,” and this harmony of 
purpose is due entirely to the many conferences 
that have been held by the leaders on both sides. 
There is yet work to be done and I hope the New 
York Union will continue to elect safe, sane and 
conservative men to represent it in the offices and 
committees at their disposal. 

After having made their selection, I hope your 
members will be good soldiers and support such 
officials as they select. 

This is not the time nor the place to rock the 
boat. It is no time for radicals or theorists. With 
chaos reigning all around us in other crafts, it is 
our aim to steer a middle, conservative course and 
by our example set a standard for others to follow. 


If I can offer-any suggestion to your union, al¬ 
ready highly organized, it would be that you 
follow up your plan of devising a suitable cost 
system with another plan that will tend to increase 
production through the raising of the efficiency of 
the individual member. 

There is certainly room for improvement in the 
quality of our production and while the tendency 
appears to be to apply the brakes by a curtailment 
of apprentices, shortening hours, arbitrary shop 
rules, extending branches, etc., we must all bear 
in mind that we cannot keep our cake and eat it 
at the same time. 

The sought-for improvements can all come in 
good time, but if they are to be gained by cur¬ 
tailment of production, the man who will eventu¬ 
ally pay the bill is the employe himself. 

It is only by income, gained by production, that 
the high standard of wages now being paid in our 
craft can be maintained and I have yet to talk to 
the employer who begrudges a living wage to his 
employes, and as a matter of fact, most employers 
I have talked to are inclined to go a little beyond 
and want their employes to secure some of the 
good things of life. 

Therefore, it seems to me that it is up to you 
and your splendid organization, and while con¬ 
gratulating you on your success, I want to leave 
the thought with you that to hold and keep what 
you have, you must give some heed to what has 
made it all possible and turn your efforts now to 
bringing up our production to its highest point of 
efficiency. Co-operation, working together for the 
common good of all, is the foundation of our suc¬ 
cess as individuals and as organizations—it is the 
foundation of civilization itself. 

























































CHAS. SAVAGE 

TREASURER 


EDWA.SCHUMAN 

VICE PRESIDENT 


ADOLPH SCHUETZ 

PRESIDENT 


R.DTALLMADGE 

SECRETARY 




















































fci o £ 

[!■ 

Si A 

Ml JS' 4 \ 

v |f 




A REMINISCENCE 


BY AD. SCHUETZ 



S we study the above picture, we think—Is it possible there are 
none in the group but employes of The Sterling Engraving 
Company! 

It takes us back about seventeen years when the company was or¬ 
ganized and we were worrying about what it should be named 


\Ye did not worry long. Our interest in the firm was genuine; our knowledge 
of photo-engraving was sound and pure; the quality of our work we intended 
to be of one kind—excellent. In the word “Sterling” all these ideas are em¬ 
bodied. Hence “Sterling” was the logical name. 


Have we lived up to our name? 

Ask any of our ever increasing clientele. They know. 
But we smile as we think of the slogan we chose:— 


“THE MOST PROGRESSIVE HOUSE IN THE CITY” 

How nervy we must have been! The smallest house calling itself the 
most progressive—but as we look again at the illustration above, we cannot 
but feel that that slogan was more than prophetic-—it stated an actual fact. 

So now, having shown we are an up-to-the-minute concern, 
and ever truthful, we must revise that slogan by adding the 
word Largest, as we are now,— 

“The Largest and Most Progressive House in the City” 

THE STERLING ENGRAVING~CO. 

200 WILLIAM ST. NEW YORK NY 10— -AYE..&36™ST 














Compliments of the 

Suffolk Engraving 

AND 

Electrotyping Company 


30 East 21st Street 

New York City 










INDUSTRIAL UNREST DEPENSABLE 

By HENRY E SCHMAL, SEC’Y-TREASURER, INTERNATIONAL PHOTO-ENGRAVERS’ UNION °/NA 


RECOGNITION OF LABOR’S RIGHTS 
ONLY SOLUTION 


HE subject of greatest moment, 
the subject that has affected all 
peoples since the signing of the 
armistice, is the unrest prevail¬ 
ing generally among the work¬ 
ing class, not alone in our own 
country, but other countries as 
well. This is explained in the fact that since so¬ 
ciety is dependent upon labor for all of its needs 
it naturally follows that industrial unrest exercises 
its influence over the whole of the people. 

The seriousness of the present industrial crisis 
has been recognized by our government as well as 
all labor leaders and some groups of employers, 
and nothing less than the combined efforts of these 
forces can restore confidence and contentment 
among the workers. 

While industrial unrest is not alone confined to 
our own country; for the sake of accuracy I will 
confine my views to the workers of America, in 
fact there is no need of our going beyond our 
shores to seek the cause of this unrest nor do I 
believe we should concern ourselves with the in¬ 
dustrial problems of our neighbors until we have 
displayed superior intelligence in solving our own. 

We hear many apparent conflicting views ad¬ 
vanced as the cause of the present unrest all of 
which if traced to their sources will be found to 
own their origin to our present undemocratic in¬ 
dustrial system, a system which enriches one class 
at the cost of the other. 

The American trade unionist of today is not 
urging the abolition of our present wage system, 
but is demanding many necessary reforms, and 
until the worker’s rights are fully established and 
he is assured of a greater share of the wealth pro¬ 
duced by him industrial unrest will prevail. 


I hose opposed to organized labor are charging 
the trade union movement with responsibility for 
the unrest and dissatisfaction prevailing among 
the workers, they would have us believe that the 
unrest prevails only among the organized worker. 
This is but another attempt to discredit the recog¬ 
nized labor unions. While it is true that organ¬ 
ized labor voices the demands and needs of the 
worker, unorganized as well as organized, it is 
manifestly unfair to charge organized labor with 
responsibility for a condition brought about by a 
tyrannical industrial system. 

To dispute the statement that the condition of 
the laboring class as a whole has been improved, 
would be discrediting the organized labor move¬ 
ment which has made this possible, although thou¬ 
sands of our nation’s wage earners are not receiv¬ 
ing sufficient wages to maintain their families in 
health and comfort, we too know the increased 
wealth of our country is not being equitably dis¬ 
tributed and until the vast wealth produced by the 
worker is more equally shared with him and not 
until labor is granted economic justice with indus¬ 
trial and political equality, will industrial peace 
be restored. We hear of community of interest 
between capital and labor and democratization of 
industry which mean nothing to the worker so 
long as he is being denied the right to participate 
in the councils which fix the wages he is to receive 
and the conditions under which he must labor, 
and until that right is fully recognized and the 
worker through his chosen representatives is 
granted the right to participate in decisions affect¬ 
ing his welfare and the part he is to take in in¬ 
dustry we need not expect to allay the present 
unrest and prevent conflict between these two 
classes. 


» 


Page Forty-one 


























































zximt 


There are some who advocate legislature to 
prevent free exercise of labor’s rights, others advo¬ 
cate the unrestricted use of military power of our 
country to suppress labor, but fortunately neither 
of these courses has found favor with those in 
authority who, I believe, realize that the use of 
either would only tend to develop a more critical 
situation than that we find confronting us today. 

For years the organized labor movement of this 
country has been fighting to relieve the suffering 
masses of American labor, contested on every side 
by those profiting by the privation of labor, but 
despite that opposition the labor movement will 
develop and will continue to extend its protection 
over the worker, and if temporarily restrained to¬ 
day will redouble its efforts tomorrow. Whenever 
capital fully realizes organized labor’s willingness 
to co-operate for the common good of mankind, 
its readiness to bear an equal share of the burdens 
common to all peoples then, and not until then, 
will the rule of suspicion and mistrust be banished 
from industry and a common understanding 
reached between capital and labor. In an effort 
to destroy the organized labor movement great 
stress has been laid on the claim that labor unions 


deprive the individual worker of the right to 
work for whoever he chooses. This is but a sub¬ 
terfuge to mislead the worker and to prevent any 
interference with the continued exploiting of labor. 

When America entered the great world conflict 
the worker pledged his loyalty, fidelity and undi¬ 
vided support to the great cause for which that 
war was waged, no sacrifice seemed too great, 
every call was fully responded to by labor, and 
he gave freely of all he possessed, even life itself. 
No greater patriot ever lived than the American 
worker. To establish democracy was one of the 
purposes for which America entered the war, and 
since that battle has been won labor demands true 
democracy as its iust reward for the sacrifices 
made, and not until it is assured that labor will 
no longer be regarded as a commodity, not until 
its right to affiliate with recognized labor unions 
and bargain collectively is fully guaranteed will 
it be content. 

With labor’s full rights granted, with democracy 
instead of autocracy ruling in industry, co-opera¬ 
tion and good will, will take the place of hatred 
and mistrust, faith and confidence will prevail and 
industrial peace will be established. 


Compliments of the 

Trichromatic Engraving Company 

461 Eighth Avenue New York City 












































TRAINING THE YOUNG WORKER 

By CEORGE STEM, MEMBER EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE,NEW YORK STATE FEDERATION/LABOR 

^-* s ^ s f SB5 ^E!S 

U® ' ' / 






ODERN industrial relations re¬ 
quire a better understanding on 
the part of both the manage¬ 
ment and the working force of 
the problems of each. Educa¬ 
tion points the way to a solu¬ 
tion of these problems, and the 
hope for the future rests with the young worker. 

The official contact of employer and worker 
engaged in promoting the education and vocational 
training of apprentices will make for democracy 
in industry. If vocational training is made a func¬ 
tion of joint action by employers and workers in 
all lines of work the industrial future of America 
is assured. What a splendid thing it will be for 
a young man on reaching his majority and taking 
a place in the ranks of his craft as a journeyman 
to realize that what he has acquired in the way 
of industrial education is due to the wise planning 
of educators, organized employers and workers. 

In the printing industry employers and workers, 
through their organizations, have reached a work¬ 
ing agreement on apprentice training. The fol¬ 
lowing, adopted at a meeting of executives of 
Employers’ Associations and the International 
Unions, and ratified by each group, reveals the 
scope of the plan: 

III—Scope of A divides 

(f) “Investigation of the question of ap¬ 
prenticeship conditions; adoption of suitable 
methods of selection for apprenticeship, and 
the technical training for apprentices, learners 
and journeymen throughout the industry; the 
improvement of processes, designs and stand¬ 
ards of workmanship; to seek adequate rep¬ 
resentation on the control and management 
of all technical institutes; to consider and 
report upon all improvements of processes, 
machinery and organization, and appropriate 


questions relating to management and the ex¬ 
amination of industrial experiments, with 
special reference to co-operation in carrying 
new ideas into effect, and full consideration 
of the employes’ point of view in relation 
thereto. The better utilization of the practical 
knowledge and experience of employes, with 
provision for facilities for the full considera¬ 
tion and utilization of acceptable inventions 
and improvements designed by employers or 
employes, and for the adequate safeguarding 
of the rights of the designer of such improve¬ 
ments.”—From Declaration of International 
Conference Council. 

This agreement opens the way for privately con¬ 
ducted courses, co-operation with the public voca¬ 
tional schools or training within the shop. 

The passage of compulsory part-time or con¬ 
tinuation school laws in many States present op¬ 
portunities for active participation in educational 
projects that the organized trades should take 
advantage of. The benefits will be widespread. 
The employer is assured trained, competent 
mechanics; there will be a higher degree of intelli¬ 
gence in the ranks of labor, and the culture, edu¬ 
cation and training of the youth will mean better 
citizens, efficient workers, good Americans in the 
future. In all of the statutes provision is made for 
the appointment of advisory committees of members 
of employers and workers organizations. They 
will advise and counsel in the selection of teachers, 
courses of study, selection of sites, buildings and 
equipment. 

Through the solicitation of the Committee on 
Education of the New York State Federation of 
Labor, several unions are considering plans to 
bring within the scope of the New York State law 
their entire apprentice groups. The plan pro¬ 
posed takes the form of an agreement that can be 
modified to suit the needs of each trade. 


jis 

-=423 


Forty-three 





















































































SOME OF ITS QUARTER CENTURY ACCOMPLISHMENTS 





WENTY-FIVE years is but a 
short space of time in this rush¬ 
ing aeroplane age and still 
within the past quarter century 
has been quietly developed 
the art of photo-engraving, a 
leader in the promotion of edu¬ 
cation, business and civilization itself. Modest 
and humble was this art in its beginnings, too 
modest in fact, for publishers took advantage of 
this modesty and treated this new art as a foot¬ 
stool on which they would rise to riches. They 
would have no more respect for it today were it 
not for the organization of its workmen who have 
raised it to the importance it now holds in “the 
art preservative of all arts.” 

No better illustration of the value of societies 
called “Unions” can be found in all history than 
the accomplishment of New York Photo-Engrav¬ 
ers’ Union No. 1 during the twenty-five years of 
its existence. It is too early to write the story, for 
we are part of it, but when the time arrives for 
the celebration of the golden jubilee, twenty-five 
years hence, the pioneers in this organization will 
be remembered for the good work they have done, 
and honored for the model society they left as a 
legacy to those who came after them. 

In the year 1894 the few photo-engravers in 
this country were in a hopeless condition of un¬ 
certainty as to the future of their business. They 
were still experimenting with the several engraving 
processes that had been discovered, were without 
proper machinery or apparatus and they lacked 
business methods entirely. Photo-engraving had 
reached such an important place in the printing 
trades that illustrated magazines were multiplying 
Crafty publishers did not instal photo-engraving 
plants in their establishments, as they had previ¬ 
ously employed large staffs of wood engravers. 


They decided instead to set one photo-engraver 
against another in merciless competition so that the 
prices of engravings might be kept down and they 
could reap fortunes through cheap methods of 
illustrating which sold their products. Publishers 
did get rich while suicidal competition drove 
many of the early photo-engravers out of the 
business. 

Employing photo-engravers, in like manner, 
were driven to the necessity of holding their em¬ 
ployes in a wage competition with each other so 
there was not a living wage for either employer 
or employe Besides the failure to get a proper 
living out of an occupation requiring such high 
technical skill there were many other grievances, 
among them the fact that they were obliged to 
work frequently in ill-ventilated and unsanitary 
shops. The final complaint caftne from the knowl¬ 
edge that photo-engraving was being taught to 
culprits in one of New York State’s penal insti¬ 
tutions. The possibility of having to work with 
ex-convicts was too much for the spirit of the 
workmen so they came together in a society for 
the protection of their industry. 

November 12, 1894, these self-respecting arti¬ 
sans at photo-engraving received from the Inter¬ 
national Typographical Union a charter recog¬ 
nizing them as Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1 in 
America. It would require a volume to record 
some of the benefits that came to the photo-en¬ 
gravers’ art following the reception of that char¬ 
ter. The workmen expected to benefit by it but 
it proved to be the salvation of the employer as 
well and besides this it dignified the art itself. 

Artisans who had given the best years of their 
lives to a study of the most intricate processes were 
no longer obliged to waste thought on bidding 
against each other for work. The charter secured 
them in their positions and they could now give 




Page Forty-five 


























































their minds to perfecting themselves and improving 
their art and this they did. T he fraternal spirit 
which followed caused brother workmen to ex¬ 
change with each other the special secrets they 
had acquired by experiment and practice in this 
highly technical work, thus raising the standards 
in the whole business. Out of this brotherly spirit 
grew also the practice of regular contributions to 
a fund for the care of those who were attacked 
by tuberculosis or were incapacitated for work in 
any way. 

What the organization of the workmen ac¬ 
complished for their employers is a valuable lesson 
in labor union history. There is space for only 
a fragment of the story here. Photo-engraving is 
one of the most uncertain of the scientific processes 
for the chemicals used are affected by the changes 
in light, heat and moisture. This being so, em¬ 
ployers thought it impossible to ascertain costs 
sufficiently reliable to standardize the selling price 
of engravings, as might be dene in a regular manu¬ 
facturing business Engravings in all cases being 
made to order, must meet the requirements of in¬ 
dividual customers, consequently, the prevailing 
basis for selling engraving among employers was 
to find out, if possible, what a prospective cus¬ 
tomer was paying a rival house for his engraving 


and then under-bid his price. The Union stopped 
this suicidal practice by studying for a long period 
the cost of the work going through their hands and 
then formulating a scale of prices which they sub¬ 
mitted to their employers as a basis for selling their 
work and thus saved the whole industry from 
financial ruin. 

Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1 has a record to 
be proud of. It has been guided during its brief 
history by officers who were ideal Americans. Its 
effort has been first of all to make good American 
citizens of its members, to secure for them living 
wages, in shops that were healthful, to protect 
their employers against themselves, to stabilize the 
whole industry and improve themselves and their 
product. They have had but one strike in their 
history. Let us hope they may never have another 
and that when the golden jubilee arrives they 
may continue to be looked upon as one of the 
model unions in the United States and possibly in 
the world. 


»< ■ i 


Note:—Mr. Horgan is the author of “Horgan’s 
Half-tone and Photomechanical Processes,” “Photo¬ 
engraving. How to Order It and Where to Buy it,” 
“Compendio de Fotograbado,” etc. For a^ quarter 
century editor “Process Engraving Notes,” Inland 
Printer. • 


NEW CENTURY COLOR PLATE COMPANY 


TELEPHONE 


AND 4364 



114 EAST 13’-* STREET 
AT UNION SQUARE 
NEW YORK 


C. G. HUSSEY & CO. 

Pittsburgh Copper and Brass I^olling Mills 

(Rolling Mills at Pittsburgh) 

Manufacturers of 

Ground & Polished Engraving Copper 

Stocks at 

504 West 24th Street 218 North Jefferson Street 

New York Chicago 



*65 


Page Forty-six 



















































WE MUST REBUILD 

By CHARLES E. SHERMAN .PRESIDENT. PHOTO-ENGRAVERS BOARD i TRADE ¥ NEW YORK CITY INC. 




- 265 


HE greatest American of them 
all, at least of recent times, 
has stated that the “Capi¬ 
talists and wage workers alike 
should honestly endeavor to 
look at any matter from the 
other’s standpoint, with a free¬ 
dom on the one hand from the contemptible arro¬ 
gance which looks down on a man with less 
means, and, on the other, from the no less con¬ 
temptible envy, jealously and rancor which hates 
another because he is better off. Each quality is 
a supplement of the other, and in point of base¬ 
ness there is not the weight of a finger to choose 
between them.” 

“The worst foes of America are the foes to that 
orderly liberty without which our Republic must 
speedily perish. The reckless labor agitator who 
arouses the mob to riot and bloodshed is in the 
last analysis, the most dangerous of the working 
man’s enemies.” 

Such were the utterances of a man at one time 
vested with the highest power and authority with¬ 
in the gift of the American people, loving Amer¬ 
ica above all else, yet a citizen of the world, a 
sympathizer with all classes. A giant in intellect 
and achievements, yet no worthy task too menial, 
he neither imposed upon himself or accepted from 
without any limitations on the hours of his day’s 
work. 

These are days which surely test American 
ideals, days in which the simple, homely truths 
that have served us so well in arriving at our 
present stage of growth and development, indus¬ 
trially and otherwise, are lost sight of in the maze 
of new doctrines and theories taking the forms of 
“isms” of various kinds and descriptions. A 
leisure or semi-leisure class are not to be depended 
upon to assume serious responsibilities or carry on 
the big problems of production. 


Our economic and industrial structure has 
been largely destroyed by the fire of a world 
conflict. We carried no insurance, the result is 
more or less a total loss. We can rebuild only 
as we originally constructed, by close applica¬ 
tion and honest full day’s work, economy and 
thrift, those American workaday principles of the 
past which has given us our proud position among 
men. 

The simple basic truths of production will in 
the long run obtain. They are as certain as any 
of the so-called natural laws. The waste and ex¬ 
pense of our conflicts must be paid out of the 
goods created and added to the cost. The la¬ 
borer will pay his share of mistakes made. 

Trade and labor organizations to be con¬ 
structive and fulfill the welfare purposes declared 
in their charters and constitutions must render a 
social service and be conducted not merely for 
class or individual gain and profit. They jointly 
and severally have a public duty to perform, an 
obligation to the whole people. 

We must take our positions as agencies of 
human progress, and play our part among the 
other constructive social factors in the promotion 
of justice and fair dealing in industry and com¬ 
merce. 

The Attorney General of the United States, 
reviewing recent activities stated, “Nothing we 
have done is intended or designed to have any 
effect upon the recognized right of labor to organ¬ 
ize, to bargain collectively through its unions.” 
However, reforms “cannot be forced by methods 
which seek to terrify a people into submission.” 

Our crying need is for sane leadership, for men 
grounded in sound principles of economics and 
business, with honest motives, patriotic and fear¬ 
less in the fight against those irresponsible out- 
landers who seek to overturn our methods in 
industry, our Government if necessary. 





Page Forty-seven 
































































Compliments of 

The Powers Photo-Engraving Company 

154 Nassau Street 


The Powers Reproduction Corporation 

137 West 37th Street 


M 




The Powers Coloritype Company 

115 East 23 rd Street 


Workers in the 

Photo-Engraving Industry 











LOOKING BACKWARD AND FORWARD 

By LOUIS ELADER, COMMISSIONED, AMERICAN PHOTO-ENGRAVERS’ ASSOCIATION 


—““"f 




HE 25th anniversary of the birth 
of New York Photo-Engrav¬ 
ers Union Number One brings 
to mind the early experiences 
of photo-engravers in the trade 
union movement. Little was 
known of the formation ac¬ 
tivities of this organization outside of New York 
for several years, when through the activity of 
some of your members and officers, the news be¬ 
gan to filter through, and in due time reached 
Chicago Passing over the first two or three years 
of the existence of your organization, the writer 
first became familiar with it through organizers of 
the International Typographical Union, under 
whose jurisdiction your organization was then op¬ 
erating. The seed was gradually sown and fell 
upon fertile ground, and unions composed of 
photo-engravers were soon formed in the larger 
cities until a respectable number came into exist¬ 
ence. The early struggles of New York Photo- 
Engravers’ Union Number One are linked with 
those of other organizations throughout the coun¬ 
try, whose experiences were very similar to your 
own. 

Your first great effort to gain recognition and 
to establish a minimum scale of wages for your 
members resulted in a strike of considerable pro¬ 
portions in 1898. New York Photo-Engravers’ 
Union Number One was forced by circumstances 
to conduct this fight practically single handed and 
with its own resources, which were none too great. 
This was due to the fact that the parent body, 
the International Typographical Union, for tech¬ 
nical reasons refused to sanction your efforts or to 
assume the financial or moral obligations con¬ 
nected therewith, and because the sister unions of 
Photo-Engravers were not sufficiently large in 
numbers or strong in financial resources to be of 
much assistance to you. To your great credit, it 
must be said that you won this fight single handed 


and there for the first time in the history of the 
photo-engraving industry, was born the effort to 
stabilize wages and other conditions. 

The treatment accorded your organization by 
the International Typographical Union brought 
about a feeling on the part of union photo-engrav¬ 
ers in the United States and Canada that their 
interests could be best conserved, and their future 
protected by an independent organization, subor¬ 
dinate to none and affiliated with the American 
Federation of Labor. A half dozen men, includ¬ 
ing the writer, shouldered the responsibility of 
secession from the International Typographical 
Union, little dreaming that their’s was an enor¬ 
mous task. After four years of endless strife and 
discord we finally succeeded in establishing the 
rights of the photo-engravers to form their own 
and independent organization. It was the writer’s 
task, personally, to bring about an agreement with 
the International Typographical Union, which 
ended the long and difficult struggle, and which, 
when ratified, enabled us to secure a charter from 
the American Federation of Labor. 

Just fifteen years have passed since the Interna¬ 
tional Photo-Engravers’ Union and New York 
Photo-Engravers’ Union Number One took their 
proper position in the ranks of organized labor 
under the banner of the American Federation of 
Labor. How well your officers and members 
have met this responsibility is a matter of current 
knowledge and history. From a small beginning 
of about 1,600 members fifteen years ago, the 
International Photo-Engravers’ Union today has 
grown to a membership of over 5,000 New York 
Photo-Engravers’ Union Number One in that 
same period has about tripled its membership. 

Local Number One, today enjoys the distinc¬ 
tion of being an exceptionally well conducted 
labor organization of the highest type This is 
evidenced by the benefits your organization has 
bestowed upon its mem- (Continued on page 52) 




Page Forty-nine 

























































CIENCE tells us that only those plants 



O and animals survive which adapt them¬ 
selves to their environment. 

A business concern is subject to the same 

law. 

No organization can long retain its vigor 
which follows a “public be damned” policy. 
Today more than ever before, a square deal, 
not brute strength, makes for stability and 
permanence. 

We have endeavored to follow this prin¬ 
ciple for 38 years. 

That is one reason why many men have 
been continuously in the service of this com¬ 
pany for 25 years or more; and why many 
customers have patronized us for 25 years 
and over. 

Consideration not only of producers, but 
also of consumers, is necessary to secure 
economic stability and progress. 


ELECTRO LIGHT ENGRAVING CO. 




Pres. 



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































OBSERVATIONS 

By AM. MORLEY JR., CHAIRMAN, CONTRACT COMMITTEE, PHOTO-EH 


AM very glad to respond to 
your request as chairman of the 
Employers Contract Commit¬ 
tee, to make a brief report and 
to point such morals to the 
good of our industry as our 
experiences in arriving at our 
present agreement would seem to indicate. 

We are told, as 1 understand it by those whose 
position should carry with it authority, that strikes, 
lockouts and industrial feuds are to be avoided if 
possible. As a business man, I know they are 
an expense and destructive. Arbitration of dif¬ 
ferences between bodies of proprietors, investors 
and labor unions are receiving the sanction of 
our ablest men among government officials, lead¬ 
ers of industry and labor institutions. 

We, as photo-engravers, are, comparatively 
speaking, one of the very small industries closely 
allied with and a part of the printing industry, 
which has been rated as the sixth industry in 
point of size and amount of capital invested. We 
use but little material, and little machinery, our 
producing cost is largely labor cost; our workmen 
are skilled artisans with a prescribed period of 
six years apprenticeship. 1 hey have often been 
likened to the guilds of early industries. 

We should, therefore, be in a peculiarly advan¬ 
tageous position to work out the experiment rec¬ 
ommended of adjusting our matters by a joint 
agreement and sit and reason together as to the 
disputes and differences that may arise. 

Our committee held a number of meetings and 
considered fully the issue before us. Data, sta¬ 
tistics and information were gathered and care¬ 
fully compiled from every available source show¬ 
ing the comparative wage statistics in competing 
zones, our cost of reproduction, taking into serious 
consideration the increased cost of living. We 


wanted to be fair and equitable as employers, 
and not stifle or cripple the industry, yet we felt 
keenly the need of more production and therefore 
joined issues sharply on the question of shortening 
the hours. The ultimatum, however, of the 
Union was that a forty-four hour week had been 
established in various other cities and that the 
New York Union was consigned to the policy 
of forty-four hours on January 1st, 1920. 

We differed also on the question of apprentice¬ 
ship, I think I can speak for the industry here 
when I say that, we have felt for some time and 
do still feel, the position taken by the labor organ¬ 
ization in the ways and means of supplying labor 
and encouraging young men of the right sort to 
enter the industry is not sufficiently flexible to meet 
our requirements. Apprenticeship heretofore pro¬ 
vided has been five years. At the last convention 
of the International Photo-Engravers’ Union this 
period was lengthened to six years and we were 
confronted with the proposition that the six-year 
period had become a matter of international law 
with the labor organization. 

With some fifteen hundred journeymen in the 
commercial branch of the photo-engraving indus¬ 
try, with one apprentice to every five journeymen 
and with a six-year term for preparation—assum¬ 
ing that each concern was training all the appren¬ 
tices allowed and that the business does not ex¬ 
pand—that each apprentice completed his course, 
which are all more or less violent assumptions as 
a matter of practice, it would take at least thirty 
years to completely replace our present corps of 
journeymen. 

We took the position also that some system 
should be worked out for recognizing ability and 
merit during training period, that certain appren¬ 
tices showing aptitude should be rewarded by re¬ 
ceiving their full card upon becoming efficient 
workmen. That form of craft selfishness which 




Page Fifty-one 




































































jp« 


ri—r«irw^Tv« ■ w ... 




seeks to restrict the field of activities for the pur¬ 
pose only of increasing the wages for the older 
workmen is short-sighted and detrimental to the 
ultimate growth and development of any industry 
where the same is practiced. 

Such a policy removes the incentive to improve 
the art, encourages substitution for our product 
and sooner or later must take on the form of sub¬ 
sidizing the workers in the craft at the expense of 
the industry as a whole. 

I think it can be said that the numerous sessions 
held were conducted with seriousness, a body of 
earnest men seeking to present their different 
points of view, endeavoring to put into concrete 
form what they respectively believed to be for the 
interests of the respective parties represented. 

It was evident, however, that the extreme de¬ 
mands made were prompted by the more radical 
element among the workmen, whose only consid¬ 
eration is the “pay-envelope,” lacking that sound 
business judgment and vision as well as that sense 
of responsibility essential in working out broad 
constructive policies for the growth of our industry. 

My sincere wish is that the coming years may 
see both employers and employes not only zeal¬ 
ous for the success of our craft, but jealous to pre¬ 
serve it from harm. 



LOOKING BACKWARD AND 
FORWARD 
By Louis Flader 
(Continued from page 49) 

bers; by the general conservatism with which you 
have conducted your affairs and by the solidarity 
and harmony in your organization, which is rare 
indeed in these days of friction, strife, turmoil and 
unwillingness to recognize proper authority. 

Your twenty-five years of life as an organiza¬ 
tion is a matter of history; your actions during 
that period are open to all; your deeds in the past 
are useful as indications of your deeds in the 
future. You have been aggressive and through 
your aggressiveness have made great headway; 
you have been fair in the main, otherwise, con¬ 
tinued progress and accomplishments would have 
been impossible. You are now passing jointly 
and separately into a new era and you will do 
well to give due consideration not only to the in¬ 
terests of your members, but to the interests of all 
who are in any way connected with the photo¬ 
engraving industry. May you be guided by the 
spirit of toleration, co-operation and justice. With 
these as your guide, you will prosper in the future 
as you have in the past. 


The Company you can rely upon 



Designing 
Half Tone Plates 
Zinc Etchings 




PHOENIX 

ENGRAVING 

COMPANY 

133-135-137 East 1GtfcSt 

NEWYOHKCITY 


Ben Day and 
Process 
Color Plates 


Engravers for Particular People 


Telephones, Stuyvesant j 



Page Fifty -i wo 













































REMINISCENCES 

h B> H.D.EARQUfiAR. MEMBER NEW YORK PHOTO-ENGRAVERS’UNION NO. 1. 








- • ■■■' 


'Wi 



|g 


REQUEST to contribute a few 
lines to the Anniversary Book 
was received with a source of 
delight and at the same time 
it transmitted a sort of feeling 
that to scribe something which 
would be read with sufficient 
interest to warrant the space it would consume, 
and convey intelligently statistics applying to the 
past, present or future of photo-engraving was not 
an easy matter, as most subjects have been 
thrashed until all details pertaining to such things 
are in the “down and out class.” 

Some of the readers of this Souvenir Book un¬ 
doubtedly are familiar with the beginning of the 
photo-mechanical process; about that time I 
thought I had learned all there was to know about 
job printing in a small western town, being young 
and ambitious I took a fancy to engraving. I 
imagined that if I could make a cut or engraving 
by photo-mechanical means, that my highest am¬ 
bitions would be realized. Immediately a few 
utensils were collected from a nearby photo studio, 
which included an old time portrait camera that 
resembled considerably an ancient accordion 
which had a lens attached to it almost as large 
as the camera, which would cut a line job about 
445 inches. This was the beginning of my 
troubles which has extended over thirty years in 
all branches of the business. Naturally my ex¬ 
periments did not “pan out” as expected, which 
made it necessary to locate a man who knew 
how—he happened to be a little, short, fat, jovial 
fellow with a long mustache and a bunch of keys 
fastened to a chain, who was doing the engrav¬ 
ing for the Cincinnati Graphic. I was kept busy 
for many days thereafter following this man from 
one locked room to another in search of the great 
secret of making photo-engravings by the swelled 
gelatine process. After a time I was able to 
absorb all that he knew, so I became inflated 


(swelled up principally in the head), and started 
in business. Well, some of the work turned out, 
and printed on an old drum cylinder press, looked 
like anything but what it was intended to portray. 

Nonetheless the business prospered—help was 
needed, I secured the services after considerable 
difficulty, of a full fledged photo-engraver for 
$20.00 a week. Then the paramount question, 
and a very serious one, was, how could I pay that 
amount of money for one man. Fortunately for 
me he turned out to be worth considerably more 
than he was willing to work for. No wonder the 
pioneer engravers in New York got busy and or¬ 
ganized Union No. 1. 

The industry began to grow into promising 
youth about that time—line work on zinc, then 
half tones on zinc, soon followed by the use of 
copper were being done to a high degree. What 
engraver in those days did not have handy a 
magnifying glass who would closely study every 
half-tone print, puzzling out how the different 
dot formation were secured through a screen. The 
development of the processes and present high 
standard of quality and efficiency without a doubt 
can be attributed to the organizing and the first 
united efforts of Union No. 1. 

There is no longer any question of the status of 
photo-engraving. It can be rated as a great 
achievement by those who were interested at its 
inception. The industry has prospered and it can 
be assumed with confidence that its use and use¬ 
fulness will continue. 

One benefit to the industry and all concerned 
was an interference of the cut-throat, double-cross 
methods of price cutting in vogue since engraving 
became commercialized. It had a sort of compul¬ 
sory influence—recognized no alibis and made 
it possible for the engravers to make some real 
[money for themselves, increase their obligations 
I which has elevated their trade into a solid finan¬ 
cial institution where it rightfully belongs. 


. 




Pago Fifty-seven 
































































Compliments of the 


Peerless Engraving Company 

147 West 22nd Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 


Standard Engraving Company 

227 West 39th Street 
New York City 







CLOSER CO-OPERATION of+he GRAPHIC ART INDUSTRIES 

By JOS. J.DERSE J2. PRESIDENT NEW YOKE ASSOCIATED COMMERCIAL ARTISTS 


< 

! 



, 

265 




WELCOME this opportunity 
to extend my hearty greetings 
to you on this Twenty-fifth 
Anniversary, and hope that we 
all will be able to celebrate the 
fiftieth anniversary in 1944. 

It is with pride that I look 
back over the past twenty-five years of remarkable 
progress, for better conditions and higher compen¬ 
sation for that which we produce. 

And now fellow craftsmen let us go a step fur¬ 
ther in the graphic art industry and help our 
brother workers to co-operate more closely with 
one another. 

To co-operate means to operate or to work 
with. 

We all know this, but how many of us realize 
it? How many of us do co-operate in the broader 
sense of the word? 

Co-operation is the surest and most generous 
way towards advancement and progress. 

Co-operation in the small sense of the word, 
means but a selfish gain towards a selfish end. 
This kind of co-operation is only too well known. 
Selfish co-operation in business does not tend to 
broaden out the market, but to restrict it. 

We see men co-operating in business every day 
to force MIGHT, not RIGHT. 

Forceful powers co-operating because they see 
that through each other they can attain their own 
ends more quickly. They co-operate only to 
clutch hold of more spoils with greedy fingers, and 
do not consider further. Is business then merely 
a question of taking something from a neighbor 
to monopolize it? Does the fact of having some¬ 
thing, entail no moral responsibility whatsoever, 
as it does in other walks of life? 

Has the business man, employer and capitalist 
made a special code of morals for themselves, 
which might read as follows: 


1. I benefit myself as much as I can whilst 
benefiting others the least possible. 

2. I must not let my neighbor’s left hand know 
what my right hand is doing. 

Now fellow craftsmen let us co-operate in the 
true sense of the word, and help all allied workers, 
to understand what the true spirit of co-operation 
means for our future in the graphic art industry. 

The affiliation between photo-engraver and com¬ 
mercial artist is the first step in the right direction 
to create one international union for all graphic art 
workers, this closer co-operation in the graphic 
arts will do a great deal of good to assure each 
worker of a better understanding of all the allied 
industries that he works in conjunction with, this 
will give the employers a better opportunity to 
understand one another and also will make him 
realize what can be accomplished and what can¬ 
not be accomplished in order to receive the best 
quality of work from all concerned. 

This will enable the graphic workers to pro¬ 
tect themselves more strongly against any unfair 
practice, not only from the employers that are al¬ 
ways waiting to take an advantage when the op¬ 
portunity presents itself, but also will give our 
clients an opportunity to understand that they must 
also work co-operatively with us, in order to re¬ 
ceive the best quality of workmanship in the fin¬ 
ished product. 

By asserting our rights in the economic adjust¬ 
ment of the graphic art industry in general, through 
the proper local allied unions, and through our 
International Union, by encouraging closer co-op¬ 
eration with all graphic art employers, we will 
establish the true spirit of co-operation, which will 
advance us to the highest state of organization. 

Let us look forward fellow graphic workers to 
the day when all the local unions will be affiliated 
with one international union, or a graphic arts 
federation so that we will be able to co-operate 
in the true sense of the word. 




l’age Fifty-nine 





































































The A. E. within the square is significant 


It means a square deal to our workmen and clients — 
and a little more. 

Every man who works for us Every client receives from us 
has a special personal incentive a personal service that is not 
for producing the kind of work measured by the amount of his 
that brings more work. monthly invoice. 

Built on such foundations, zvith the most skilful men zve could employ in 
each department—zvith all our efforts combined and concentrated on pleas¬ 
ing the customer, zve feel sure of succcess. 

AJJOCIATED ENGRAVER/ 


INCOILPOH AT E D 


343-345 We/t 2&± f treet 

MEW YORK 

Phone, Watkins, 6546-7-8-9 


265 


Page Sixty 





























































QUARTER CENTURY «/ TRADE UNIONISM 

By JAMES J.PREEL, PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL STEREOTYPERS' AND ELECTROTYPERS' UNION 




T is particularly gratifying dur¬ 
ing these times of rampant 
radicalism and temporary dis¬ 
regard, by some bodies of or¬ 
ganized workingmen, of the 
fundamental principles of trade 
unionism, and common sense 
which has made the organized labor movement 
powerful, respected and a source of benefit to its 
membership in general and a bulwark of future 
hope of social and industrial betterment for the 
citizens and governments of the two great democ¬ 
racies of North America, to felicitate a local 
union that has never, since its inception a quarter 
of a century ago, departed from the true ideals 
and practices of trade unionism and as a result 
has finally succeeded in securing for its members 
every industrial betterment sought, which at the 
present time and under existing industrial and 
social conditions is the very best obtainable. As 
an active trade unionist in the printing industry 


when New York Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1, 
of the International Photo-Engravers’ Union, was 
organized twenty-five years ago, I have been 
fully conversant with its troubles, the obstacles it 
had to overcome, the bitter contests it was obliged 
to engage in in order to exist, and also to establish 
the satisfactory conditions its members now enjoy, 
conditions not surpassed by any other trade union 
and only equalled by few. 

Photo-Engravers’ Union No. 1 has demon¬ 
strated by its history that, by strict adherence to 
trade union ethics it is possible to secure every¬ 
thing its membership should have. It has never 
tolerated or followed false industrial leaders nor 
has it been carried away with impossible industrial 
fads or schisms which in my judgment are respons¬ 
ible for the great success it has achieved. 

My hat is off to No 1 upon its twenty-fifth 
birthday, I congratulate you upon your achieve¬ 
ments and sincerely hope you will in future be 
as successful as you have been in the past. 





In 1888. Left to right, not counting 5 boys in front row: CHARLEY PARKER " DAVE DRIVER 
JOHN MEANY - CHAS. HANCOCK - EDWARD HERITAGE - GEORGE BELL 
GEORGE FREIKNECHT - HARRY TILFORD - GEORGE SNOW - WM. CONKLIN. 



Page Sixty-one 











































































EAMNGLEJLOGO 

NEW YOR-K ml 

^ ELECT R.O TYPERS 
* * & ENGRAVERS * 


E5TABUSHEO 1B7I 


DExSIGrJlNG 

DRAWING 

RETOUCHING 

OF 

PHOTOGRAPHS 
AND PRINTS 
MAP 



; MAIN OFFICE 
L. J9-4I BAROAY.ST.TO_. 
Vz40 42 PARK PLACE— 


AX D 

PHOTOGRAVURES 

m 

* ALL WORJC RECEIVES THE • 
PERSONAL ATTENTION OF A 
- MEMBER. OF THE FIR.M • 
EITHER. AT THE DOWNTOWN 

• OR- UPTOWN PLANT • 


ENGRAVING 

AND 

ELECTROTYPING 
BRASS &STEEL 
PRINTING & 
EMBOSSING 
DIEvS 


UPTOWN BRANCH 
_ 207 WEST 2S“V ST 


Page Sixty-t 








































































r 


LABOR’S AFTER WAR PROBLEMS 

By MARSDEN G.SCOTT, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION 




N behalf of the officers and 
members of the International 
Typographical Union, permit 
me to extend our heartiest con¬ 
gratulations and best wishes 
to the officers and members of 
New York Photo-Engravers’ 
Union No. 1 on the celebration of your twenty- 
fifth anniversary. Surely you have made won¬ 
derful progress, and the sound foundation upon 
which you have built up your organization in¬ 
sures still greater progress during the coming 
years. 

Civilization’s greatest war has been fought and 
won in Europe. Labor’s greatest battle for hu¬ 
manity and justice must now be fought and won 
in America. 

In Russia, in Germany, and in other countries 
of Europe governments based on injustice to the 
workers have been dismantled and thrown among 
the rubbish. Civilization is purging itself, and the 
scum and rottenness of years of misgovernment 
are floating away on the ebbing tide. 

Greed for wealth and for power to inflict in¬ 
justice on human beings have had their day. The 
workers of the world have paid too dearly in 
blood and in treasure to be cheated out of the 
victory they have won. 

Here in America the organized workers face 
their greatest problems. For the past four years 
the greedy profiteers have plied their trade, prac¬ 
tically unhampered. With the signing of the 
armistice, the inhuman vultures who have fattened 
on the world’s misfortune have systematically 
planned to further inflate prices, thereby bringing 
semi-poverty into the homes of those who won the 
war. 

Countless tons of food and clothing have been 
hoarded and kept out of circulation. Retail 
prices have been based, not on cost of production. 


but upon the ability of the gougers to extort their 
tribute. 

In 1916 food prices advanced. In 1917 they 
jumped. In 1918 and 1919 the “cost of living’ 
soared 60 to 80 per cent or more above pre-war 
levels. In millions of homes the “cost of living” 
did not increase, for the simple reason that the 
contents of the weekly pay envelope were inade¬ 
quate to meet the increased prices demanded by 
the profiteers. One can not squeeze blood out of 
a turnip, and the inevitable result was that pre¬ 
war standards of living were reduced. 

Old clothes were patched, old dresses were 
mended, old shoes were sent to the cobbler, infre¬ 
quent amusements were dispensed with, little lux¬ 
uries were abandoned, every household economy 
was exercised, and even then the problem of try¬ 
ing to make both ends meet became a hopeless 
daily tragedy, a heart-breaking, never-ending 
nightmare from which there was no escape. The 
world will never know the full extent of the sacri¬ 
fices which have been made by the wives and 
children in the homes of the wage-earners of 
America in the past four years. 

Many interesting articles have appeared in 
newspapers and periodicals in which the wages 
paid to some shipyard worker or munitions em¬ 
ploye were set forth. There was human interest 
in the story of the brawny riveter who drew down 
fabulous sums in the cost-plus shipyard. But no 
one cared to read of the struggles, the sacrifices 
and the poverty in the homes of the mechanic 
working for a pre-war wage. 

Yet somehow these men scraped together the 
price of a few stamps or war saving certificates. 
God only knows how some of them managed to 
pay the weekly instalments on the Liberty Bonds 
for which they subscribed. But they did it—only 
to be forced to part with them at the Shylock’s dis¬ 
count later on. 

Every war breeds its crop of cooties and profi- 



Page Sixty-three 


























































Page Sixty-four 




















































































AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT'S OPPORTUNITY 

By WALTER REDDICK. PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD y BOOKBINDERS 


265 


REE1ING to the officers and 
members of New York Photo- 
Engravers’ Union No. I, and 
congratulations on the won¬ 
derful progress made during 
their twenty-five years of exis¬ 
tence with wonderful predic¬ 
tions for their future. 

This is a time in the history of the American 
labor movement when every caution must be used 
to exercise sound judgment and common sense in 
the adjusting of our wage scales or any other 
matter that might result in a dispute with our 
employers. There are at the present time over 
600,000 men on strike in twenty states and in 
wages alone they are losing more than $3,000,000 
a day, to say nothing of the loss to the nation 
through diminished production. 

Nine-tenths of the present strikes are “outlaw” 
walkouts, and as a result the conservative leaders 
of the American Federation of Labor are very 
much perturbed over the consequences. An in¬ 
ternational union cannot be held responsible for 
the actions of a few radicals within its ranks. 
It is not the rank and file that refuse to live up to 
their contracts. The trouble comes from lead¬ 
ership of unwise, disloyal radicals who for the 
time seem to have gained control. The loudest 
shouter for unionism is very often the poorest 
union man when put to the test, and when 
raised to leadership proves the poorest leader. 
This element is a small minority of the trade 
unionists and now, more than at any other time, 
must the conservative, intelligent unionists an¬ 
nounce their position and sustain the true Ameri¬ 
can principles which these ill-advised, reckless 
leaders would soon destroy. 


It is the policy of the International Brotherhood 
of Bookbinders, to reach amicable adjustment 
of differences with its employers. We believe 
that nothing is gained by drastic action and often 
times a great deal is lost thereby. We endeavor 
to settle all matters by conciliation and failing 
in this to have recourse to arbitration rather than 
strike to enforce our demands. We find that 
much better agreements are reached in this man¬ 
ner and the employers pay more in many instances 
than they were willing to pay previously, besides 
resulting in a better feeling between the employer 
and employe which is worth considerable. 

Increases in wages, better conditions obtained 
and the progressive work done in almost every 
centre of our jurisdiction speak well for the 
advancement our organization is making. 

Our strength will depend on co-ordination of 
effort and mutual understanding between employ¬ 
ers and employes and our success will be meas¬ 
ured by the degree of co-operation attained in 
our work. 

The growth and progress of the International 
Brotherhood of Bookbinders has been exceedingly 
successful. Wages have kept advancing and 
piece-work, task and bonus, and other obnoxious 
conditions in binderies have been to a great ex¬ 
tent obliterated. 

Today, the Brotherhood is in a very prosperous 
condition, upwards of 18,500 members are on 
our rolls. We contributed our share of mem¬ 
bers in the great world war and our members and 
local unions purchased many thousands of dollars 
of Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps. We 
are at all times patriotic and loyal to our flag and 
country and we are proud of our International 
Brotherhood of Bookbinders. 





Page Sixty-five 




























































! 


The Chromatic Process Engraving 
Company 



250 West 54th Street 


New York City 





ggT— 


WORLD’S PEACE AND LABOR 

By GEORGE L. BERRY, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS UNION 


<n*M 




EACE throughout the world 
means more to the working 
men and women than to any 
other element of society. For 
in the final analysis, it is the 
working class that must give 
the greatest manpower in sup¬ 
port of war and that is called upon to pay the 
cost of war by and through the production and 
efforts of labor. 

The peace pact of Paris constitutes the most 
equitable conclusion that could be arrived at in 
view of all of the intricate conditions that entered 
into the negotiations. 

1 he many nations of the world have set up 
for themselves standards of living. Customs have 
evolved into laws, and traditions have become the 
cornerstone of nations, all the outgrowth of a 
condition existing in the day and time of the 
several generations, predicated to a very great 
extent upon the racial conditions applying in 
the several countries. This group of nations, as¬ 
sociates in the allied cause, each having their re¬ 
spective grievances against the central powers, 
present a situation looking to adjustment that is 
not without difficulties and serious consequences. 

To assume that each nation should have the 
right of asserting and stipulating its standard as 
the model, would have instantly caused the dis¬ 
ruption of the entire proceedings and made an 
agreement impossible. The very natural course, 
therefore, was for the nations, as is the case with 
men, to endeavor to arrive at an amicable and 
equitable adjustment, first as to their position with 
each other, and secondly as to their joint opinions 
on the attitude to be taken in respect to the enemy 
nations which had been defeated. 

It is not saying too much when it is declared 
that the President of the United States and his 
colleagues upon the American Commission to 
Negotiate Peace, representing as they did a great 


nation of free people, who are in the vanguard of 
progress, found work that called forth not only 
extreme precaution but an attitude of patience 
and conciliation that finds no equal in the history 
of the world’s affairs. When all is said and 
done, therefore, we would be ungrateful and in¬ 
consistent indeed if complete approbation was not 
generously given to the President and his associ¬ 
ates upon the American Commission. 

1 he penalties imposed upon Germany and her 
allies are of course unprecedented, and by the 
same token it can be said that the outrages, atroc¬ 
ities and damage to the world were unprece¬ 
dented. The allied nations had just cause in 
expecting, demanding and enforcing the payment 
by Germany for the great crime she had com¬ 
mitted against society. The terms of the indem¬ 
nities are of necessity harsh, but are not too burd¬ 
ensome for the German government and her allies 
to meet in the full day of their time. Opportunity 
for economic expansion is accorded to Germany 
and in the course of years it will require them to 
meet their obligation, and we should not forget 
that during those same years the nations she has 
ravished, and the nations she has forced into 
bankruptcy, will likewise feel the pangs of war, 
the responsibility for which rests upon the should¬ 
ers of the central powers exclusively. 

The war occurred; it was a war where millions 
of men made the surpreme sacrifice; it was a war 
where whole countries were destroyed, a war 
where thousands of women and children were 
murdered, all due to and precipitated by the 
cruel, inhuman and insane concept of the ruling 
class of Germany and her allies. It is not the 
fault of the allied governments and the United 
States that the war occurred; there can be no real 
basis, therefore, for sympathy to the German gov¬ 
ernment and her allies for the great havoc they 
have played in upsetting and breaking down the 
orderly course of human endeavor. 


. "iiiiii i 


Page Sixty-seven 



























































I ~IH 'INI nllTlT "MIW'—Tlil' IHWWfl Ilf 



In the determination of indemnities, boundary 
lines and punishment for those responsible, there 
was very properly considered the question as to 
the future in relation to peace and the establish¬ 
ment of some barrier against the possible repetition 
of the suffering the world had endured because 
of the war, and in this the President of the United 
States urged upon the high contracting parties a 
league of all governments which would subscribe 
to the principles of peace, and a covenant em¬ 
bodying the high purposes of the league was 
offered and the name given to it was “The 
League of Nations.” The high contracting par¬ 
ties subscribed to this doctrine “in order to pro¬ 
mote international co-operation and to achieve in¬ 
ternational peace and security by the acceptance 
of obligations not to resort to war, by the pres¬ 
cription of open, just and equitable relations be¬ 
tween nations, by the firm establishment of the 
understanding of international law as the actual 
rule of conduct among governments, and by the 
maintenance of justice and scrupulous respect 
for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organ¬ 
ized peoples with one another.” 

With the foregoing as the basic principle, the 
machinery to carry out the high ideals expressed 
was immediately put into shape, and in Article II 
this significant language appears: “It is also de¬ 
clared to be the friendly right of each member of 
the league to bring to the attention of this assem¬ 
bly or of the council any circumstance whatsoever 
affecting international relations which threaten to 
disturb international peace or the good under¬ 
standing between nations upon which peace de¬ 
pends.” 

It will be observed by this phraseology that 
the covenant of the League of Nations is not an 
institution that is to govern by precedents or is 
immune from initiative, but it provides the means 
by which any matter arising in the world’s affairs 
and which threatens the peace of the world may 
be a proper subject for consideration by the 
League. The claim, therefore, that is being 
made abroad and in this country that the Irish 
situation is doomed by the League is a false 
premise, for indeed, there is in the League an 
opportunity for a hearing given the Irish and other 
peoples of the world that has never presented 
itself in all history. 

In another section of the covenant. Article XII, 
a further significant declaration is made and it 
reads: “The members of the League agree that 
if there should arise between them any dispute 
likely to lead to a rupture they will submit the 
matter either to arbitration or to inquiry by the 




council, and they agree in no case to resort to 
war until three months after the award by the 
arbitrators or the report of the council. In any 
case under this article the award of the arbitrators 
shall be made within a reasonable time and the 
report of the council shall be made within six 
months after the submission of the dispute.” 

Can there be a doubt in the minds of any sensi¬ 
ble persons as to the result of the application of 
this feature of the covenant? If representatives 
of all of the nations are to sit as friends in the 
consideration of a dispute among friends for a 
period of six months, is it not reasonable to expect 
that an adjustment will result? Certainly, if it 
is not possible to secure an adjustment by this 
course, obligated as they are to peace, what 
course is open to the minds of men as a more 
effective substitute? 

Because of the predominating importance of 
working men and women in the conduct of the 
war and the burdens that rest upon them in the 
payment of the cost of the war, it was only natural 
and to be expected that some definite declaration 
should be made upon this subject, and so in the 
covenant of the League of Nations an exception 
was made in the recognition of the world’s obliga¬ 
tion to the workers, the producers of the health 
and happiness of society. 

We find in Article XXIII this far-reaching 
principle and committal: “We will endeavor to 
secure and maintain fair and humane conditions 
of labor for men, women and children, both in 
their own countries and in all countries to which 
their commercial and industrial relations extend, 
and for that purpose will establish and maintain 
the necessary international organizations.” 

So it will be observed that associated with the 
League of Nations there will be a department 
known as the International Bureau of Labor; this 
bureau has been made effective through the estab¬ 
lishment of the necessary machinery for its opera¬ 
tion; a commission made up of employers and em¬ 
ployes, equally representative, was selected by the 
high contracting parties and reported to the high 
commission, a complete system of organization for 
the determination of all issues presented. In this 
organization for the conduct of the Labor Bureau 
we find the following language: “Whereas, the 
League of Nations has for its object the establish¬ 
ment of universal peace, and such a peace can 
be established only if it is based upon social jus¬ 
tice; and whereas, conditions of labor exist in¬ 
volving such injustice, hardship and privation to 
large numbers of people as to produce unrest so 
great that the peace and harmony of the world 



Page Sixty-eight 














































) 

I 

I 







t m e xma 


are imperiled, and an improvement of these con¬ 
ditions is urgently required; as for example by the 
regulations of the hours of work including the 
establishment of a maximum workday and week, 
the regulation of the labor supply, the prevention 
of unemployment, the provision of an adequate 
living wage and protection of the worker against 
sickness, disease and injury arising out of employ¬ 
ment, the protection of children, young persons 
and women, provision for old age and injury, pro¬ 
tection of the interests of the workers when em¬ 
ployed in countries other than their own, the rec¬ 
ognition of the principle of freedom, of association, 
the organization of vocational and technical edu¬ 
cation and other measures; whereas, also the 
failure of any nation to adopt humane conditions 
of labor is an obstacle in the way of other nations 
which desire to improve the conditions in their 
own countries, the high contracting parties moved 
by sentiments of justice and humanity as well as 
by the desire to secure the permanent peace of 
the world agree.” 

The question we must ask ourselves is “has 
there ever before in all time been a recognition 
given such as constitutes the very preamble and 
heart of the Labor Bureau of the covenant of the 
League of Nations?” It is good to know upon 
the part of those who move forward that there 
has come in the life of the world a tribunal where 
the working conditions of men and women are to 
be subject to an adjustment predicated upon prin¬ 
ciples such as are enunciated in the Covenant of 
the League of Nations. As an indication of the 
purpose and setting up the pointer that means 
progress and not retrogression, I quote herewith 
another section of the machinery for the operation 
of the Labor Department of the government 
which says: “In no case shall any member be 
asked or required as result of the adoption of any 
recommendation or draft convention by the con¬ 
ference to lessen the protection afforded by its 
existing legislation to the workers concerned.” 

This eliminates the question of averaging the 
standards of the nations of the world; it precludes 
the possibility of a revision downward. It guar¬ 
antees and gives recognition to the superior condi¬ 
tion existing in any nation of the world, and that 
superior condition is to be the model for the up¬ 
lift of peoples enjoying an inferior standard, and 
the high standard is determined by the intelligent 
concept of the nations. It means that if the stan¬ 
dard of the United States is seventy-five percent 
and the other nations fifty percent, and the Labor 
Bureau determined sixty-five percent, the immed¬ 
iate gain is to the minimum and the incentive is 




to the maximum to go to the hundred per cent, 
there being no provision whatsoever that could be 
construed in the slightest degree as preventing the 
execution of those agencies for progress that now 
prevails in the several nations of the world; but 
on the other hand, in addition to those agencies 
that have brought to us the conditions that we 
now enjoy, we have in addition an international 
instrumentality that can be brought into use for 
the elevation of the conditions of the workers in 
a less fortunate country, and in pursuing this 
course we not only occupy ourselves in a great 
humane cause, but we safeguard our conditions 
of employment by minimizing the danger of un¬ 
fair and inhuman competition, the outgrowth of 
industrial oppression and wage slavery. 

Opposition to the League of Nations and to 
the Labor Bureau constitutes not only reflection 
upon the intelligence of the millions of men who 
crossed the Atlantic to break down the onslaught 
of militarism against the free peoples of the world, 
but it is likewise a reflection upon the intelligence 
of the working men and women of this and every 
other country and indicates the real feeling of 
antagonism of those critics against the progress 
of human liberty. 



Compliments of the 


UNIVERSAL ENGRAVING COMPANY 


88• SO GOLD STREET • NEW YORK 



Page Sixty-nine 
















































Compliments of 


The H. C. Jones Engraving Company 

348 West 38th Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 

Scientific Engraving Company 

406 West 31st Street 
New York City 
















f" OUR FUTURE 

By E. J. VOLZ , PRESIDENT, NEW YORK PHOTO‘ENGRAVERS’ UNION NO.l 



y 

V 




/ 




UR past is a matter of fact and 
has been recorded. Who can 
read the history and say that our 
existence as an organization has 
not been justified? Who of us, 
_member or craftsman, can pe¬ 
ruse the early and persistent 
struggle (often against discouraging odds) of our 
pioneers without admiration and respect? Who 
can review the accomplishments of twenty-five 
years without pride and satisfaction? 

A glorious future lies ahead, for we have 
profited by experience and will not rest content 
on the laurels and results of those who have pre¬ 
ceded us but will persevere and strive continu¬ 
ously for greater achievements. 

However satisfactory our past a greater and 
more ambitious program lies ahead, work of a 
wider scope and a broader endeavor. Fortunate¬ 
ly a substantial basis has been established upon 
which to proceed. 

Our hope and that of the industry lies in our 
apprentices, the future journeyman, the future 
member, the future leader. We must be ever 
careful in their selection, vigilant in their training, 
providing every means for their advancement, do¬ 
ing our utmost to educate them not only as workers 
but as skilful and resourceful craftsmen, also in 
economic principles and in their social and civic 
duties. They must be given every encouragement 
to advance, every opportunity to progress. The 
necessary means and incentive must be provided 
to keep them morally sound, physically fit, intel¬ 
lectually strong, economically ambitious and when 
eventually the reins of leadership in the craft is 
transferred to them as eventually it must, it can be 
done with the assurance that the trust will not be 
misplaced. Every act, every dollar spent in such 


education and upbuilding will be returned to the 
industry and the organization one hundred fold, 
and when they in turn render an account of their 
stewardship it will show a substantial interest on 
the investment. This is our greatest insurance for 
a protected future. 

Looking ahead we can discern an appreciative 
membership recognizing more fully in our organi¬ 
zation the vital instrument necessary to craft prog¬ 
ress, the means by which they have advanced, the 
key to the realization of their future hopes and 
aspirations. Keenly jealous of its welfare, vitally 
interested in all its activities, eager to assist in its 
progress, insistent on asserting through it their 
rights, persistent in having them recognized and 
enthusiastic in all its accomplishments. Each act¬ 
ing as though the organization depended on their 
individual efforts and collectively carrying on in 
such a manner as to assure the individual of the 
interest and backing of the united whole, compe¬ 
tent of considering and judging questions in their 
broader aspect and for the greater and permanent, 
rather than the immediate future, able to discern 
and discriminate between progressive definite poli¬ 
cies and doubtful though alluring makeshifts, 
choosing wisely between unselfish leaders and sel¬ 
fish opportunists aspiring to self-aggrandizement; 
willing to contribute funds sufficient to carry out 
progressive policies and campaigns for advance¬ 
ment and protection and to maintain the organi¬ 
zation in a dignified and respected manner. 

Truly, our future lies ahead resplendent with 
hope. Even though we remain a small organiza¬ 
tion due to the limitations of our craft we will ever 
be, as we are, an effective and forceful one, con¬ 
structive leaders in the trade union movement, ever 
blazing the way for a brighter, better and more 
satisfactory existence. 


r'taarrg fife 


Page Seventy-one 

































































Compliments of the 


Photochrome 
I Engraving Company 

419-421 Lafayette Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 


Colgan 


Engraving Company 

150 West 22nd Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 

Bingham 

Engraving Company 

239 West 39th Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 


Service Photo- 
Engraving Company 


168 Park Row 
New York City 


Pagre Seve 













Art Color Plate Color Plate 

Engraving Company Engraving Company 


418 West 25th Street 
New York City 


313 West 43rd Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 


Pioneer 

Engraving Company 

348 West 38th Street 


Compliments of the 

Stockinger Photo- 
Engraving Company 

1013 Grand Street 


New York City 


Brooklyn, N. Y. 












Compliments of the 


Compliments of the 


Lenz Photo- 
Engraving Company 

242 West 42nd Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 

Chemical 

Engraving Company 

9-11 Murray Street 
New York City 

| B. F. Condon, President 

! Geo. A. Bartholomew, Vice-President 
H. J. Atkins, Secretary 


Quality 

Exclusive Color Ben Day 

318 East 23rd Street 



Page Seventy-four 



































EGG-ERS 


PHOTO ENGRAVING 










Compliments of the 


Compliments of the 


Hagopian Photo- 
Engraving Company 

39 East 20th Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 

Galvanotype 
Engraving Company 

218 William Street 


Imperial 

Engraving Company 

424 West 33rd Street 
New York City 


Compliments of the 

Harding Photo- 
Engraving Company 

8-10 West 13th Street 


New York City 


New York City 














This Souvenir arranged and prepared by Edward J. Volz 












































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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


0 021 212 078 9 















































